-"Si

YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

CONSIDERATIONS

THE PRINCIPAL, EVENTS

viBsacsin i&iBTCDihqnFtKDsic

POSTHUMOUS WORK OP
THE BARONESS DE STAEL.
EDITED EY
THE DUKE DE BROGLIE AND THE BARON DE STAEL.

Les Revolutions qui arrivent dans les grands
etats ne sont point un effet du hazard, ni du
caprice de peuples. — Memoikes de Sully.

Translated from the Original Manuscript.

NEW-YORJf :
PUBLISHED BY JAMES EASTBURN AND CO,
AT THE LITERARY ROOMS, BROADWAY.
Clayton & Kingsland, Printers.
1818.

CONTENTS.

PART IV-

CHAP. I.
News from Egypt : Return of Bonaparte ... - - 1
CHAP. II.
Revolution of the 18th Brumajre ... ....5

CHAP. HI.
Of the Establishment of the Consular Constitution • - - 13
CHAP. IV.
Progress of Bonaparte to Absolute Power - - - - - - 18
CHAP. V.
Should England have made Peace with Bonaparte at his Accession to tbe
Consulate?  25
CHAP. VI.
Ofthe solemn Celebration ofthe Concordat at Notre-Dame - - - 30
CHAP. VII.
M. Necker's last Work under the Consulship of Bonaparte - - - 35
CHAP. VIII.
Of Exile   45
CHAP. IX.
Of the last Days of M. Necker  51
CHAP. X.
Abstract of M. Necker's Principles ori Government - - - - 56

CONTENTS.

CHAP. XI.
Bonaparte Emperor. The Counter Revolution effected by him. - - 60
CHAP. XII.
Of the Conduct of Napoleon towards the Continent of Europe - - 68
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Means employed by Bonaparte to attack England - - -72
CHAP. XIV.
On the Spirit of the French Army - - - 76
CHAP. XV.
Ofthe Legislation and Administration under Bonaparte - - 83
CHAP. XVI.
Of Literature under Bonaparte - .... - 89
CHAP. XVII.
A Saying of Bonaparte printed in the Moniteur - - 93
CHAP. XVIII.
On the political Doctrine of Bonaparte .... 94
CHAP. XIX.
Intoxication of Power; Reverses and Abdication of Bonaparte - 101

PART V.

CHAP. I.
Of what constitutes legitimate Royalty ...... 115
CHAP. II.
^ Of the political Doctrine of some French Emigrants and their Adherents - 120

CONTENTS.

CHAP. III.
Ofthe Circumstances that render the Representative Government more ne
cessary at this time in France than in any other Country - - 127
CHAP. IV.
Of the Entry of the Allies intp Paris, and the different Parties which then
existed in France - - - - - . - . -»-131
CHAP. V.
Of the Circumstances which accompanied the first Return of the House
of Bourbon in 1814 -.-.._.. 140
CHAP. VI.
Of the Aspect of France and of Paris during its first Occupation by the
Allies .....  144
CHAP. VII.
Of the constitutional Charter granted by tbe King in 1814 - 148
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Conduct of the Ministry during the first Year of the Restoration 154
CHAP. IX.
Of the Obstacles which Government encountered during the first Year of
the Restoration ---.-- ... 165
CHAP. X.
Of the Influence of Society on Political affairs in France - - 171
CHAP. XI.
Ofthe System which ought to have been followed in 1814, to maintain the
House of Bourbon on the Throne of France  177
CHAP. XII.
What should have been the Conduct of the Friends of Liberty in 1814? 187
CHAP. XIII.
Return of Bonaparte .... - . 191
CHAP. XIV.
Gf the Conduct of Bonaparte on his Return . - 198

VI CONTENTS.

CHAP. XV.
Of the Fall of Bonaparte  201
CHAP. XVI.
Of the Declaration of Rights proclaimed by the : Chamber of Represen
tatives, 5th July, 1815  - 207

PART VI.

CHAP. I.
t-Are Frenchmen made to be Free? - - ... 209
CHAP. II.
Cursory View of the History of England - .... 214
CHAP. III.
Of the Prosperity of England, and tbe Causes by which it has been
hitherto promoted -- ...... 228
CHAP. IV.
Of Liberty and Public Spirit among the English - - 238
CHAP. V.
Of Knowledge, Religion, and Morals, among the English ... 257
CHAP. VI.
Of Society in England, and of its Connexion with social Order - - 269
CHAP. VII.
Of the Conduct of the English Government out of England - - 282
CHAP. VIII.
Will not the English hereafter lose their Liberty ? ... 298
CHAP. IX.
Can a limited Monarchy have other Foundations than that of the English
i. Constitution ?- ------... 305
CHAP. X.
Of the Influence of arbitrary Power on* the Spirit and Character of a
Nation  -- - 312

CONTENTS. vii

CHAP. XI.
Of the Mixture of Religion with Politics .... - 321
CHAP. xn.
Of the Love of Liberty «»....... 330 1

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
OF
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,

PART IV.

CHAPTER I.
News from Egypt : Return of Bonaparte*
Nothing was better calculated to produce a striking effect oa
the mind than the Egyptian war ; and though the great naval
victory gained by Nelson *near Aboukir, had destroyed all its
possible advantages, letters dated from Cairo, orders issuing
from Alexandria to penetrate to Thebes, on the confines of Ethi
opia, increased the reputation of a man, who was not now
within sight, but who at a distance seemed an extraordinary
phenomenon. He put at the head of his proclamations, Bona
parte, Commander-in-chief, and Member of the Jiational Insti
tute; whence it was concluded, that he was a friend to know
ledge, and a protector of letters ; but the security which he
gave for these qualities was not more firm than his profession
of the Mahomedan faith, followed by his concordat with the
Pope. He was already beginning to impose upon Europe by
a system of juggling tricks, convinced, as he was, that the
science of life consists merely in the jmancE uvres of egotism.
vol. ii. 1

2 CONSIDERATIONS ON
Bonaparte is not a man only, but also a system ; and*, if he were
fight, the human species would no longer be what God has made
it. He ought therefore to be examined like a great problem,
the solution of which is of importance to meditation throughout
all ages.
Bonaparte, in reducing every thing to calculation, was suffi
ciently acquainted with that part of the nature of man which
does not obey the will, to feel' the necessity of acting upon the
imagination ; and his twofold dexterity consisted in the art of
dazzling multitudes, and of corrupting individuals.
His conversation with the Mufti in the pyramid of the
Cheops, could not fail to enchant the Parisians, for it united the
two qualities by which they are most easily captivated ; a cer
tain kind of grandeur and of mockery together. The French
like to be moved and to laugh at being moved : quackery is
their delight, and they aid willingly in deceiving themselves,
provided they be allowed, while they act as dupes, to show by
some witticisms that they are not so.
Bonaparte, in the pyramid, made use of the Oriental style.
" Glory to Allah," said he, " there is no true God but God, and
-Mahomet is Ms prophet. The bread stolen by the wicked turns.
into dust in his mouth." " Thou hast spo&en," said the Mufti
" like the most learned ofthe Mullahs." n I earn cause a chariot
of fire to descend from Heaven,'1'' continued Bonaparte, " and
direct it upon the earth." "Thou art the mightiest Captain"
replied the Mufti, " whose hand the power of Mahomet hath
armed;" Mahomet however did not prevent Sir Sidney Smith
from arresting by his brilliant valour the successes of Bona
parte at St. Jean-d'Acre,
When Napoleon, in 1805, was named King of" Italy, he said
to General Bertbier, in one of those moments when he talked
of every thing that he might try his ideas upon other people ;
" This Sidney Smith made fortune fail me at St. Jean-d'Acre •'
my purpose was to set out from Egypt, proceed to Constantino
ple, and arrive at Paris by marching back through Europe."
This failure, however, made at the time a very decent appear
ance. Whatever hrs regrets might be, gigantic like the enter-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. &'
prises which followed them, Bonaparte found means to make
his reverses in Egypt pass for successes ; and although his ex
pedition had no other result than the ruin of the fleet, and the
destruction of one of our finest armies, he was called the Con
queror of the East.
Bonaparte, availing himself with ability of the enthusiasm of
the French for military glory, associated their self-love with his
victories as well as with his defeats. He gradually took posses
sion of the place which the revolution occupied in every head,
and attached to his own name that national feeling, which had
aggrandized France in the eyes of foreigners.
Two of his brothers, Lucien and Joseph, had seats in the
Council of Five Hundred, and both in their different lines had
enough of intellect and talent to be eminently useful to the Ge
neral. They watched for him over the state of affairs, and,
when the moment was come, they advised him to return to
France. The armies had been beaten in Italy, and were for
the most part disorganized through the misconduct of the admi
nistration. The Jacobins began to show themselves once more,
the Directory was without reputation and without strength:
Bonaparte received all this intelligence in Egypt, and after
some hours of solitary meditation, he resolved to set out. This*
rapid and certain perception of circumstances is precisely what
distinguishes him, and opportunity has never offered itself to
him in vain. It has been frequently repeated, that on departing
then, he deserted his army. Doubtless, there is a species of
exalted disinterestedness, which would not have allowed a war
rior to separate himself thus from the men who had followed
hjm, and whom he left in distress- But Bonaparte ran such
risks in traversing the sea covered with English vessels ; the
design, which summoned him to France, was, so bold, that it is
absurd to treat his departure from Egypt as cowardice. Such
a being must not be attacked with common declamations t eve
ry man, who has produced a great effect on other men, to be
l'udged, should be examined thoroughly.
A reproach of a much graver nature is the total want of
humanity which? Bonaparte manifested in his Egyptian cam-
i '
a * ;

4 CONSIDERATIONS ON
paign. Whenever he found any advantage in cruelty, he in
dulged in it, and yet his despotism was not sanguinary. He
had no more desire to shed blood, than a reasonable man has
to spend money without need. But his ambition was, in his
nomenclature, necessity ; and when this ambition was concern
ed, he did not for a moment allow nimself to hesitate to sacri
fice others to himself. What we call conscience was in his eyes
only the poetical name of cozenage.

;THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 5
CHAPTER II.
Revolution of the 18th Brumaire.
In the time which had elapsed since Bonaparte's brothers
wrote to him in Egypt to advise his return, the face bf affairs
had undergone a singular change. General Bernadotte had
been appointed Minister at War, and had in a few months re
stored the organization of the armies. His extreme activity
repaired all the mischiefs which negligence had caused. One
day, as he was reviewing the young men of Paris who were on
the eve of marching to the scene of war : My lads, said he,
there are assuredly among you some great captains. These sim
ple words electrified their souls, by recalling to their remem
brance one of the chief advantages of free institutions, the
emulation which they excite in every class.
,The English had made a descent on Holland, which had
been already repulsed. The Prussians had been beaten at
Zurich by Massena ; the French armies had again begun to act
on the offensive in Italy. Thus, when Bonaparte returnee?,
Switzerland, Holland, and Piedmont were still under the con
trol of France ; the barrier of the Rhine, gained by the con
quests of the Republic, was not disputed with her, and her
force was on a balance with that of the other states of Europe.
Who could have imagined then, that of all the combinations
which fortune presented to her choice, that which would lead
her to be conquered and subdued, was to raise the ablest of her
generals to supreme power. Tyranny annihilates even the
military force to which it sacrifices every thing.
It was no longer, therefore, external reverses which, in 1799,
made France desire Bonaparte ; but the fear which the Jaco
bins excited was a powerful aid to him. They were now with
out means, and their appearance was nothing more than that of
a spectre which, comes to stir the ashes : it was, however,

€ CONSIDERATIONS 6jS
enough to.rekindle the hatred which they inspired, and the na
tion, flying from a phantom, precipitated itself into the arms of
Bonaparte. The President of the Directory had said on the 10th of Au
gust of the very year in which Bonaparte was made Consul ;
Royalty will never raise its head again ; no longer will those
men be seen who pretended to be the delegates of heaven that they
might oppress the earth with more security ; in whose eyes France
was but their patrimony, Frenchmen but their subjects, and the
laws the mere expression of their good pleasure. What was to
be seen no more, was, however, seen very soon ; and what
France wished in calling Bonaparte to the throne, peace and
repose, was exactly what his character rejected, as an eleinent
in which he could not live.
When Cassar overturned the Roman republic he had to com
bat Pompey and the most illustrious patricians of the age : Ci
cero and Cato contended against him : every where there was
greatness arrayed in opposition to his. Bonaparte met with no
adversaries whose names deserve to be mentioned. If the Di
rectory had been in the fulness of its past force, it would have
said, like Rewbell, when hints were given him that there was
reason to apprehend that General Bonaparte would offer his re
signation : Very well, let us accept it, for the republic will never
want a general to command its armies. In fact, the circumstance
which had rendered the armies of the French Republic formi
dable till then, was, that they had no need of any particular man
to command them. Liberty draws forth in a great nation all
the talents which circumstances require.
Exactly on the ISth Brumaire larrived at Paris from Swit
zerland, and as I was changing horses some leagues from the
city, I was informed that the Director Barras had just passed,
on his way to his estate of Gros-bois, accompanied by gens
df armes. The postillions were relating the news of the day
and this popular mode of becoming acquainted with them gave
them additional interest. It was the first time since the Revo
lution, that the name of an individual was heard in every mouth.
Till then it was said, — the Constituent Assembly has done so

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 7
and so, or the people, or the Convention; now there was no
mention of an^ but this man, who was to be substituted for all,
and leave the human race without a name ; who was to engross
renown tq Jiimself, and tp exclude every existing creature from
the possibility of acquiring a share of it.
The very evening of my arrival, I learned that during the
five weeks which Bonaparte had spent at Paris since his return,
he had been preparing the public mind for the Revolution,
which had just taken place. Every faction had presented itself
to him, and he had given hopes to all. He had told the Jaco
bins, that he would save them from the return of the old dynas
ty ; he had, on the contrary, suffered the royalists to flatter
themselves that he would- re-establish the Bourbons; he had
insinuated to Sieyes that he would give him an opportunity of
bringing forth into light the constitution which he had been
keepingin darkness for ten years ; he had, above all, captiva
ted the public, which belongs to no faction, by general protes
tations of love ofc-rderaiid tranquillity. Mention was made to
him of a woman, whose papers the Directory had caused to be
seized ; he exclaimed on the absurd atrocity of tormenting wo
men, he, who, according to his caprice, has condemned so many
of them to unlimited exile : he spoke only of peace, he who has
introduced eternal war into the world. In short, there was in
his manner an affectation of gentleness, which formed an odious
contrast with what was known of his violence. But, after ten
years of suffering, enthusiastic attachment to notions had given
way in revolutionary characters to personal hopes and fears.
After a certain time old notions return ; but the generation,
which has had a share in great civil troubles, is scarcely ever
capable of establishing freedom: it is too polluted for the ac
complishment of so pure a work.
The French Revolution, after the 18th Fructidor, had been ,
nothing but a continued succession of men who caused their own
ruin by preferring their interest to their duty ; they thus, at
least, gave an important lesson to their successors.
Bonaparte met no obstacles in his way to power. Moreau
was not enterprising in civil affairs ; Bernadotte eagerly re-

CONSIDERATIONS ON

quested the Directors to re-appoint him Minister at War. His
appointment was written out, but they had not eourage to sign
it. Nearly all the military men, therefore, rallied round Bona
parte ; for, now that they interfered once more in the internal
revolutions, they were resolved to place one of their own body
at the head of the State, that they might thus secure to them
selves the rewards Which they wished to obtain.
An article of the constitution, which allowed the Council of
Ancients to transfer the Legislative Body to another city than
Paris, was the means employed to effect the overthrow of the
Directory. The Council of Ancients ordained on the 18th Bru-
maire, that the Legislative Body and Council of Five Hundred
should, on the following day, remove to Saint Cloud, where the
troops might be made to act more easily. On the evening of
the 18th, the whole city was agitated by the expectation of the
great day that was to follow; and without doubt, apprehension
of the return of the 'Jacobins made the majority of people of
respectability wish at the time that Bonaparte might have the
advantage. My own feelings, I acknowledge, were of a very
mixed nature. When the struggle was once begun, a momenta
ry victory of the Jacobins might occasion fresh scenes of blood ;
yet I experienced, at the idea of Bonaparte's' triumph, a grief
which might be called prophetic.
A friend of mine who was present at the sitting in St. Cloud,
despatched messengers to me every hour : at one time he in
formed me that the Jacobins were on the point of prevailing,
and I prepared to quit France anew : the instant afterwards I
learned that the soldiers had dispersed the national representa
tives, and that Bonaparte had triumphed. I wept, not over
liberty, for it never existed in France, but over the hope of that
liberty, without which France can look for nothing but disgrace
and misery. I felt within me at this instant a difficulty of
breathing, which, I believe, has since become the malady of all
those who lived under the authority of Bonaparte.
Different accounts have been given of the manner in which
the revolution of the 18th Brumaire was accomplished. The
point of chief importance is, to observe on this occasion the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 9
characteristical traits of the man, who has beeji for nearly fif
teen years the master of the continent of Europe. He repair
ed to the bar of the Council of Ancients, and wished .to draw
them into his views by addressing them with warmth and dig
nity ; but he cannot express himself in connected discdurse ; it
is only in conversation that his keen and decisive spirit shows
itself to advantage. Besides, as he has no true enthusiasm on
any subject, he is never eloquent but in abuse, and nothing was
more difficult for him, than to confine himself in his address to
that kind of respect which is due to an assembly whom we
wish to convince. He attempted tp say to the Council of An
cients, " / am the God of War and of Fortune, follow me."
But he used these pompous words from mere embarrassment,
and in their place would rather have said, " You are all a pack
of wretches, and I will have you shot, if you do not obey me."
On the 19th Brumaire he came to the Council of Five. Hun
dred, his arms crossed, with a very gloomy air, and followed
by two tall grenadiers, who protected the shortness of his star
ture. The deputies, who were named Jacobins, uttered violent
exclamations when they saw him enter the hall : fortunately
for him his brother Lucien was president at the time ; it was in
vain that he rang the bell to re-establish order; cries of traitof
and usurper resounded from every quarter ; and one of fhe
members, a countryman of Bonaparte, the Corsican Arena,
approached the general, and shook him violently by the collar
of his coat. It has been supposed, but without reason, that he
had a poignard to kill him. His action, however, terrified Bo
naparte, who said to the grenadiers by his side, as he let his
head drop over the shoulder of one of them, " Get me out of
this." The grenadiers carried him ajvay from among the de->
puties who surrounded him, and bore him from the hall into the
open air. He was no sooner out, than his presence of mind
returned. He instantly mounted on horseback, and passing
along the ranks of his grenadiers, soon determined them to
what he wished should be done.
lhshis situation, as in many others, it has been observed that
Bonaparte could be thrown into confusion, when another dan-
o
vol. n.

10 -, CONSIDERATIONS ON
ger than that of war was set before him, whence some persons
have ridiculously enough inferred that he was deficient in
courage. His hardihood surely cannot be denied ; but as he is
nothing, not even brave, in a generous manner, it follows that
he never exposes himself, but when it may be advantageous.
He would be much vexed at the prospect of being killed,, for
that would be a reverse, and he wishes to be successful in every
thing ; he would likewise be vexed at it, because death is disa
greeable to the imagination : but he does not hesitate, to hazard
his life, when, according to his views, the game, if I may be al
lowed the expression, is worth the risk of the stake.
After General Bonaparte left the hall of the Five Hundred,,
the deputies opposed to him were vehement in demanding, that
he should be put out of the protection of the law ; and it was
then that his brother Lucien, president of the assembly, did him
an eminent service by refusing, in spite of all the solicitations
with which he was urged, to put that proposition to the vote.
If he had consented, the decree would have passed, and no one
can tell what impression it might yet have produced on the sol
diers. For ten years they had uniformly abandoned such of
their generals as the. legislative power had proscribed ; and al
though the national representation had lost its character of le
gality bythe 1 8th Fruclidor, the similarity of words often pre
vails over the diversity of things. Bonaparte hastened to send
an armed force to bring Lucien in safety out of the hall ; as
soon as he was gone, the grenadiers entered the orangery, where
the deputies were assembled, and drove them away by march
ing from one extremity of the hall to the other, as if there had
been nobody present. The deputies, driven against tlie wall
were forced to escape \y the window into the gardens of St.
Cloud with their senatorial robes. The representatives of the
people had been already proscribed in France ; but it was the
first time since the Revolution, that the civil power had been
rendered ridiculous in presence ofthe military; and Bona
parte, who wished to establish his dominion on the degradation
of bodies as well as on that of individuals, enjoyed his success
in destroying at the very, outset the dignity of the deputies.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 1
From the moment that the moral force of the national represen
tation was annihilated, a legislative body, whatever it might be,
was in the eyes of the military a mere assemblage of five hun
dred men, much less strong and active than a battalion of the
same number; and they have since been always ready at the
command of their chief, to correct diversities of opinion like
faults in discipline.
In the Committees of the Five Hundred, Bonaparte, in pre
sence ofthe officers of his suite and some friends of the Directo
ry, made a speech, which was printed in the journals of the
day. It contains a remarkable comparison, which history ought
to store up. What have they done, said he, speaking of the Di
rectors, with that France which I left to them so brilliant. I
left them peace, and I find war at my return : I left them victo
ries, and I find defeats. What, in short, have they done with the
hundred thousand Frenchmen, all of them my acquaintances and
my companions in arms, who are now no more. Then all at once
concluding his harangue in a calm tone, he added, This slate of
things cannot last ; it would lead us in three years to despotism.
-He took upon himself the charge of hastening the accomplish
ment of his prediction.
But would it not be an important lesson for the human spe
cies, if these Directors, unwarlike as they were, were to rise
from their ashes, and were to demand of Napoleon to account
for the barrier of the Rhine and the Alps conquered by the re
public ; for the two entries of foreign troops into Paris ; for the
three millions of Frenchmen who have perished from Cadiz to
Moscow ; and above all, for that sympathy which nations once
felt with the cause of liberty in France, and which is now chang
ed into inveterate aversion 1 The Directors assuredly would
not be the more praiseworthy for this ; but the conclusion would
be, that in our days an enlightened nation can do nothing worse
than put itself into the hands ofa single man. The public has
now more sagacity than any individual; and institutions rally
opinions more wisely than can be done by circumstances. If
the French nation, instead of choosing that baneful foreigner,
who has wrought for his own advantage, and wrought ill, even

CONSIDERATIONS ON

in that view;^-if the French nation, at that time so imposing in
spite of all her faults, had formed a constitution for herself,
with a respectful attention to the lessons which ten years of ex
perience had given her, she would still have been the light of
the world.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER III.
Of the Establishment of the Consular Constitution.
The most potent charm which Bonaparte employed for the
establishment of his power was, as we have said, the terror
which the very name of Jacobinism inspired, although every
person capable of reflection was aware that this pestilence could
not revive in France. We willingly assume the air of fearing
subdued factions to justify general measures of rigour. All who
wish to favour the establishment of despotism are constantly
endeavouring to keep the crimes of demagogues strongly in our
recollection. It is a system of tactics which has little difficulty.
Accordingly, Bonaparte paralyzed every kind of resistance to
his will by these words : Would you have me deliver you up to
the Jacobins ? France bent before him, nor was there a man
bold enough to reply, We will combat both the Jacobins and you.
In fine, he was not loved, even at that time, but he was prefer
red : he has almost always presented himself simultaneously
with some other source of alarm, which might cause his power
to be accepted as the less evil of the two.
The task of discussing with Bonaparte the constitution which
was to be proclaimed was intrusted to a commission of fifty
members, selected from the Five Hundred and from the An
cients. Some of those members, who the evening before had
leaped from a window to escape from the bayonets, treated se
riously the abstract question of new laws, as if it had been pos
sible to suppose that their authority was still respected. This
coolness would have been noble, had it been joined to energy ;
but abstract questions were discussed, only that tyranny might
be established; as, in Cromwell's days, passages of the Bible
were sought out to justify absolute power.
Bonaparte allowed these men, accustomed to the tribune, to
dissipate in words what remained to them of character ; but

14 CONSIDERATIONS ON
when their theory approached too near to practice, he cut show
every difficulty by a threat of interfering no more in their af
fairs, that is to say, of bringing them to a conclusion by force.
He took considerable pleasure in these tedious discussions, be
cause he is himself very fond of speaking. His species of
dissimulation in politics is not silence : he chooses rather to
mislead by a perplexed discourse, which favours alternately the
most opposite opinions. In truth, deceit is often practised more
effectually by speaking than by silence. The least sign be
trays those who say nothing; while, on the other 'hand} the im
pudence of active falsehood tends more directly to produce
conviction. Bonaparte, therefore, lent himself to the subtleties
of a committee, which discussed the establishment of a social
system, like the composition of a book. There was then no
question of ancient bodies to be treated with respect, of privi
leges to be preserved, or even of usages to be reverenced ;
the Revolution had so cleared away all recollections of the past
frdm France, that the plan of the new constitution was not em
barrassed by any remains of preceding edifices.
Fortunately for Bonaparte, in such a discussion there was no
need of profound knowledge ; he had only to combat reason
ings, a species of weapon with which he played as he liked,
and to which he opposed, when his convenience required, a
logic in which nothing was intelligible except the declaration of
his will. Some have believed that Bonaparte was well inform
ed on every subject, because in this respect, as in many others,
he made use of the tricks of quackery. But, as he had read
little in the course of his life, his knowledge was confined to
what he had picked up in conversation. By accident he may
speak to you on any subject whatsoever with exactness, and
even with considerable science, if he has met some person who
gave him information upon it immediately before ; but the next
instant you discover that he does not know what every well-
educated person has learned in his youth. Doubtless rauch of
a certain kind of talent — the talent of adroitness— is necessary
to enable him thus to disguise his ignorance ; but none, except
men enlightened by sincere and regularly prosecuted studies,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. IS
can entertain just ideas on the government of nations. The
old doctrine of perfidy succeeded with Bonaparte, only because
he added to it the delusions of victory. Without this fatal as
sociation, there would not have been two opinions concerning
such a man.
The sittingsof Bonaparte with his committee were related to
us every evening, and the accounts might have amused, had
they not thrown us into a deep melancholy as to the future lot
of France. The servile spirit of courtiers began to unfold it
self in the men, who had shown the greatest degree of revo
lutionary harshness. These ferocious Jacobins were rehears
ing the parts of barons and counts, which were allotted to them
afterwards ; and every thing announced that their personal in
terest would be the true Proteus, which would assume at will
the most different appearances.
During this discussion, I met a conventionalist whom I shall
not name ; for why give names where the truth of the picture
does not require it ? I expressed to him my alarms for liberty :
" Oh ! Madam," replied he, " we are come to such a point,
that we must think of saving, not the principles of the Revolu
tion, but the men who have been concerned in it," This wish
assuredly was not that of France.
It was expected that Sieyes would present in a regular form
that famous constitution which had been talked of for ten years,
as the ark of alliance which was to unite all parties; but by
a singular oddity, he had written nothing on the subject.
Sieyes' superiority of talent could not prevail over the misan
thropy of his character: he dislikes the human race, and can
not deal with it : one might say, that he would rather have to
do with any other beings than men, and that he renounces all bu
siness, because he cannot find upon earth a species more to his
taste. Bonaparte, who wasted his time neither in the contem
plation of abstract ideas, nor in the dejection of peevishness,
perceived very quickly in what the system of Sieyes might be
useful to him. It was in the very artful annihilation of popular
elections. Sieyes substituted for them lists of candidates, out
of which the Senate was to choose the members of the Legit-

Jo CONSIDERATIONS ON
lative Body and of the Tribunate ; for in that constitution there
were, I know not for what reason, three bodies, and even four,
if we reckon the Council of State, of which Bonaparte after
wards availed himself So well. When the choice of deputies is
not made purely and directly by the people, the government is
no longer representative ; other institutions may accompany
the privilege of election, but it is in that privilege that liberty
consists. The important point therefore, for Bonaparte, was
to paralize popular election, because he knew it to be irrecon
cileable with despotism.
In this constitution, the Tribunate composed of a hundred
persons, w'as to speak; while the Legislative Body, which con
sisted of two hundred and fifty members, was to be silent : but
it is not easy to conceive why this permission was given to the
one, or this constraint imposed upon the other. The Tribunate
and the Legislative Body were not sufficiently numerous in
proportion to the population of France ; and all political im
portance was concentrated in the Conservative Senate, which
united all authority but that which arises from independence of
fortune. The senators had no resources except the appoint
ments which they received from the executive power. The
Senate was in effect nothing else than the mask of tyranny ; it
made the orders of an individual appear as if they had been dis
cussed by many.
When Bonaparte was sure of having to deal only with men
dependent on their salaries, who were divided into three bo
dies, and named by one another, he thought himself certain of
attaining his end. The glorious name of tribune denoted a
pension for five years ; the noble appellation of senator meant
a benefice for life ; and he perceived quickly enough, that the
one class would wish to acquire what the other would desire to
preserve. Bonaparte communicated his will in different tones,
— sometimes by the sage voice ofthe Senate, sometimes by the
slavish cries of the Tribunes, sometimes by the still scrutiny of
the Legislative Body : and this tripartite choir was reckoned
the organ of the nation, though subject lo the absolute control
of a single master.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 17
Sieyes' work was without doubt altered by Bonaparte. His
long hawk-eyed sight made him descry and suppress whatever
in the proposed institutions might, on a futsre day, occasion
resistance : but Sieyes had ruined liberty, by providing any
kind of substitute for popular election.
Bonaparte himself would not perhaps have «been strong
enpugh to effect at that time so great a change in generally ad
mitted principles : it was necessary that the philosopher should
here aid the designs of the usurper. Not assuredly that Sieyes
wished to establish tyranny in France : justice requires us to
admit, that he never took any share in it -, and besides, a man
of so much talent cannot love the authority of a single indivi
dual, unless that individual be himself. But he confused with
his metaphysics the very simple question of elections ; and it
was under the shadow of the clouds thus raised, that Bonaparte*
passed on with impunity to despotism.

VOL. II.

f& CONSIDERATIONS OS
CHAPTER IV.
Progress of Bonaparte to Absolute Power.
The first symptoms of tyranny cannot be watched too carefully :
for when once it has grown tap to a certain point, it can no lon
ger be stopped in its career. A single man enchains the will
ofa multitude of individuals, the greater part of whom, taken
separately, would wish to be free, but who nevertheless submit
beceuse they dread one another,- and dare not communicate
their thoughts freely. A minority not very numerous is often
sufficient to resist in succession every portion of the majority
which is unacquainted with its own strength.
In spite of the differences of time and place, there are points
of resemblance in the history of all nations who have fallen un
der the yoke. It is generally after long civil troubles that ty
ranny is established, because it offers the hope of shelter to all
the exhausted and timorous factions. Bonaparte said of him
self with reason, that he could play admirably upon the instru
ment of power. In truth, as he is attached to no principles,
nor restrained by any obstacles, he presents himself in the
arena of circumstances like a wrestler, no less supple than vigo
rous, and discovers at the first glance the points in every man
or association of men, which may promote his private designs.
His scheme for arriving at the dominion of France rested upon
three principal bases,— to satisfy men's interests at the expense
of their virtues, to deprave public opinion by sophisms, and to
give the nation war for an object instead of liberty. We shall
see him follow these different paths' with uncommon ability.
The French, alas ! seconded him only too well : yet it is his
fatal genius which should be chiefly blamed ; for as an arbitrary
government had at all times prevented the nation from acquir
ing fixed ideas Upon any subject, Bonaparte set its passions in
motion without having to struggle against its principles. Ho

the French revolution, 19
had it in his power to do honour to France, and to establish
himself firmly by upright institutions : but his contempt of the
humaa race had quite dried up his soul, and he believed that
there was no depth but in the region of evil.
We have already seen him decree a constitution, in which
there existed no securities. Besides, he took great care to
leave the laws that had been published during the Revolution
unrepealed, that he might at his pleasure select from this ac
cursed arsenal the weapon which suited hhn. The extraordi
nary commissions, the transportations, the banishments, the
slavery of the press, measures unfortunately introduced in the
name of liberty, were extremely useful to tyranny. When he
employed them, he alleged as a pretext, sometimes reasons of
state, sometimes the urgency of the conjuncture, sometimes the
activity of his adversaries, sometimes the necessity of main
taining tranquillity. Such is the artillery of the phrases by
which absolute power is defended, for circumstances never
have an end^ and in proportion as restraint by illegal measures
is increased, the disaffected become more numerous, which
serves to justify the necessity of new acts of injustice. The
establishment of the sovereignty of law is always deferred till
to-morrow, a vicious circle of reasoning which it is difficult to
leave; for liberty will scarcely be permitted till that public
spirit prevail which can result only from the enjoymenjt of
liberty. The constitution gave Bonaparte two colleagues : he chose
with singular sagacity, for his assistant consuls, two men, who
were of no use but to disguise the unity of his despotism : the
one was Cambaceres, a lawyer of great learning, who had been
taught in the convention to bend methodically before terror ;
the other, Lebrun, a man of highly cultivated mind and highly
polished manners, who had been trained under the Chancellor,
Maupeou, under that minister, who, satisfied with the degree of
arbitrary power which he found in the monarchy as it then ex
isted, bad substituted for the parliaments of France one named
by himself. Cambaceres was the interpreter of Bonaparte
iothe revolutionists, Lebrun to the royalists : both translated

20 CONSIDERATIONS ON.
the same text into . two different languages. Thus two able
ministers were charged with the task' of adapting the old sys
tem and the new to the mixed mass of the third. The one, a
great noble who had been engaged in the Revolution, told the
royalists, that it was their interest to recover monarchical insti
tutions, at the expense of renouncing the ancient -dynasty.
The other, who, though a creature of the era of disaster, was
ready to promote the re-establishment of courts, preached to
the republicans the necessity of abandoning their political opin^
ions, in order to preserve their places. Among these knights
of circumstances, the grand master Bonaparte could create
such conjunctures as he desired ; while the others manoeuvred
according to the wind with which the genius of the storms had
filled their sails.
The politicat army of the First Consul was composed of de
serters from the two parties. The royalists sacrificed to him
their fidelity to the Bourbons ; the patriots, their attachment to
liberty: sothat no independent style of thinking could show
itself under his dominion ; for he was more willing to pardon a
selfish calculation than a disinterested opinion. It was by the
bad side of the human heart that he hoped to gain possession
of it.
Bonaparte took the Tuijleries for his abode: and even the
choice, of this residence was a stroke of policy. It was there
that the King of France was accustomed to be seen; circum
stances, connected with monarchy were there presented to eve
ry eye ; and the very influence of the walls on the minds of
spectators was, if we may say so, sufficient for the restoration
of regal power. Towards, the concluding days of the last cen
tury, I saw the First Consul enter the palace built by our kings :.
and, though Bonaparte was still very far from the magnificence
which he afterwards displayed, there was visible in all around
him an eagerness to vie in the courtier arts of Oriental servili
ty, which must have persuaded him that it was a very easy
matter to govern the earth. When his carriage arrived in the
court of the Tuilleries, his: valets opened the door and put
down the steps with a violence which seemed to say, that even

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 21
inanimate substances were insolent when they retarded his
progress for a moment. He neither looked at, nor thanked any
person, as if he were afraid of being thought sensible to the
homage which he required. Ashe ascended the staircase in
the midst of the crowd which pressed to follow him, his eyes
were not fixed on any object or any person in particular.
There was an air of vagueness and want of thought in his phy
siognomy, and his looks expressed only what it always becomes
him to show — indifference to fortune, and disdain for men.
Qne circumstance, which was singularly favourable to the
power of Bonaparte, was, that he had nothing but the mass of
the nation to manage. All individual existence had been anni
hilated by ten years of tumult, and nothing acts upon a people
like military success : to resist this inclination on their part, in
stead of profiting by it, a great strength of reason is requisite.
Nobody in France could believe his situation secure ; men of
all classes, whether ruined or enriched, banished or recompens
ed, found themselves, if I may say so, one by one alike in the
hands of power. Thousands of Frenchmen were upon the list
of emigrants, thousands more had acquired national domains ;
thousands were proscribed as priests or nobles ; and thousands
of others feared to be so for their revolutionary deeds. Bona
parte, who constantly marched between two opposite interests,
took care not to terminate these inquietudes by fixed laws,
which would enable every man to know his rights., To this or
that man he gave back his property ; from this or that other he
took it away for ever. A decree concerning the restitution of
woods reduced one man to misery, while another recovered
more than he had originally possessed. Sometimes he restored
the estate of the father to the son, or that of the elder brother
to the younger, according as he was satisfied or dissatisfied with
their attachment to his person. There was not a Frenchman
who had not something to* ask of the government ; and that
something was life : for favour then consisted, nof in the frivo
lous pleasure which it can impart, but in the hope of revisiting
the land in which he was born, and of recovering a part at least
of what he once possessed. The First Consul had reserved to

22 fc^NSIDERATIONS ON"
himself, under some pretext or other, the power of disposing of
the lot of all and of every one. This unheard-of state of de
pendence excuses in a great measure the nation. Is universal
heroism to be expected ; and was there not need of heroism to
run the risk of the ruin and the banishment which impended
over all, and which might fall by the application of a decree.
A singular concurrence of circumstances placed the laws of the
period of terror, and the military force created by republican
enthusiasm, at the disposal of one man. What an inheritance
for an able despot !,
The party among the French who sought to resist the con
tinually increasing power of the First Consul, had to invoke
liberty in order to struggle against him with success. But at
this word the aristocrats and the enemies of the Revolution
roared out against Jacobinism, and thus seconded the tyranny,
the blame of which tbey have since wished to throw upon their
adversaries. To tranquillize the Jacobins, who had not yet all rallied
round that court whose intentions they did not well comprehend,
pamphlets were poured forth which declared, that there was no
reason to apprehend that Bonaparte meant to resemble Caesar,
Cromwell, or Monk, — obsolete parts, it was said, which were
no longer suitable to the age. It is not, however, quite certain
that the events of this world do not occur again and again with
little variation, though such sameness is forbidden to the au
thors of new pieces for the stage ; but the important object then
was lo furnish a phrase to all who wished to be decently deceiv
ed. French vanity at that time began to plume itself upon
diplomacy. The whole nation was informed of the secret of
the cdmedy, and, flattered with the confidence, took pleasure in
the knowing reserve which was required of it."
The numerous journals which existed in France were subject
to a very rigorous but very well arranged censorship: for it
was wholly out of the question to impose silence upon a nation
which must scatter its witticisms in every direction, in the same
way as the games of the circus were necessary to the Roman
people. Bonaparte then established that babbling tyranny from

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 23-
which he has since derived so much advantage. The daily
papers all repeated the same thing constantly, nor was any one
at liberty (b contradict them. The freedom of journals differs
in several respects from that of books. The journals announce
• the news for which all classes of people are eager ; and the dis
covery of printing, instead of being, what it has been called,
the safeguard of liberty, would be the most terrible weapon ©f
despotism, if the journals, which constitute the sole reading of
three fourths of the nation, were exclusively subject to autho
rity. For, as regular troops are much more dangerous than a
militia to the independence of nations, so hired writers intro
duce into public opinion much more depravity than could arise
where there is no communication except by speech ; in which
case the judgment could be formed only upon facts. But when
the curiosity for news can be satisfied with an allotted portion
of falsehood, when no event is related unaccompanied by so
phisms, when everyone's reputation depends on a calumny
propagated by gazettes, which are multiplied on every side, and
which there is not a possibility that any person should be al
lowed to refute ; when opinions concerning every circumstance,
every work, every individual, are,subject to a journalist's word
of command, as the movements of soldiers to the leaders of files ;
then it is that the art of printing becomes what has been said of
cannon,-^the last reason of kings.
Bonaparte, when he had a million of armed men at his dis
posal, did not on that account affix less importance to the art of
guiding the public mind by the newspapers : he himself often
dictated articles fpr the journals, which might be recognised by
the violent sarcastic turns of the style : he obviously would
have wished to put blows instead of words in what, he wrote.
There is in every part of his nature a basis of vulgarity, which
even the gigantic height of his ambition cannot always con
ceal. Not but that he is able to conduct himself with perfect
propriety on any given day ; he is however at ' his ease only
when he despises others, and as soon as he can return to that
mood, he yields gladly to his inclination. Yet it was not
through mere liking that he allowed himself, in his notes for the

24 CONSIDERATIONS ON
Moniteur, to employ the cynicism of the revolution in support
of his power. He would permit none but himself to be a Ja
cobin in France. And when he inserted in his bulletins gross
insults against respectable personages, he thought that he should
thus captivate the mass of the people and soldiers, by descend
ing, in the .very purple with which he was arrayed, to the level
of their language and. passions.
It is impossible to arrive at great power, except by taking
advantage of the tendency of the times ; accordingly Bona
parte studied the spirit of his age with care. There had been
among the men of talent of the eighteenth century, in Franqe,
a noble enthusiasm for the principles which constitute the hap
piness and the dignity of mankind ; but, under the shelter of
this great oak, the venomous 'plants of egotism and irony flou
rished; and Bonaparte knew how to avail himself with ability
of these baneful dispositions. He turned every thing, however
glorious, into ridicule, except force ; shame to the vanquished
Was the declared maxim of his reign ; and accordingly there is
only one reproach which we would be tempted to address to the
disciples of his doctrine; yetryoic have not succeeded: for
they would not be affected i>y blame derived from feelings of
morality. It was however necessary to give a vital principle to this sys
tem of derision and immorality upon which the civil govern
ment was founded. These negative forces were insufficient to
produce a progressive motion, without the impulse of military
success. Order in the administration and the finances, the em
bellishment of cities, the completion of canals and high roads,
every thing in short that has been praiseworthy in the manage
ment of the interior, had for its sole bases the money obtained
by contributions raised upon foreigners. Nothing less was ne
cessary than the revenues of the Continent to procure these
advantages for France ; and, far from being founded on dura
ble institutions, the apparent grandeur 0f this Colossus repos
ed only on feet of clay.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.' ' 2.5

CHAPTER Vi

Should England have made Peace with Bonaparte at his Acces
sion to the Considate ? ¦* » .
When General Bonaparte was named Consul, peace was the
blessing which was expected from him. The nation, fatigued
with its long struggle, and at that time sure of confirming its
independence with the barrier of the Rhine and the Alps, wish^
ed only for. tranquillity ; but the measures to which it had re
course were certainly ill adapted for the accomplishment of its
end. The First Consul, however, took steps towards a recon*
ciliation with England, and the ministry of the day declined his
overtures. Perhaps they were in the wrong : for, two years
afterwards, when Bonaparte had established his power by the
victory of Marengo, the English government found itself obliged
to sign the treaty of Amiens, which was in every respect more
disadvantageous, than that which might have been obtained at
a moment when Bonaparte was desirous of a new success, peace
with England. Yet I do not join in the opinion of some per
sons, who pretend that, if the English ministry had accepted his
proposals, he would thenceforward have adopted a pacific sys
tem. Nothing was more inconsistent with his nature and his*
interesf. He cannot live but in agitation ; and if any thing cafi
plead in his behalf with those who reflect on the constitution of
man, it is that he can breathe freely nowhere exceptin a volca
nic atmosphere ; his interest also recommended to him war.
Every man who becomes the chief of a great country bf
other means than hereditary right, will scarcely be able to keep-
himself in his situation, unless he gives the nation either free'-
tjom or military glory, unless he becomes either Washington or
a conqueror. Now, as it was difficult to have less resemblance'
tp| Washington than Bonaparte had, he could not establish and
preserve absolute power, except by stupefying reason, and pre* '
Ye*, n. ** ">>

26 CONSIDERATIONS ON
senting to the French, every three months, a new scene, so as
by the greatness and variety of events to fill up the place of that
honourable but calm emulation which free slates are invited to
enjoy. One anecdote will show how, from the first day of Bona
parte's ' accession to the Consulship, those around him were
aware of the servility with which they must conduct themselves,
if they would please him. Among the arguments alleged by
Lord Grenville for not treating with Bonaparte, one was, that,
as the government of the First Consul depended wholly on him
self, a durable peace could not be established on the life of a
single individual. These words irritated the First Consul, who
could not endure that the chance of his death should be discuss
ed. In fact, he who meets with no obstacle in men becomes in
dignant against nature, which alone refuses to yield : it is easier
for the rest of the world to die ; their enemies, often their
friends too, in short their whole lot prepares them for it. The
person employed lo refute Lord Grenville's answer in the Mo-
niteur made use of these expressions : " As to the life and the
death of Bonaparte, they, my Lord, are above your reach." It
was thus that the people of Rome addressed their Emperors by
the style of " Your Eternity." Strange destiny of the human
species, condemned by its passions to tread the same circle,
while it is constantly advancing in the career of ideas. The
treaty of Amiens was concluded when Bonaparte's successes in
- Italy made him already master of the continent ; the terms of it
were very disadvantageous for the English; and during the
year that it lasted, Bonaparte indulged in such formidable en
croachments, that next to the fault of signing the treaty, that of
not breaking it would have beCn the greatest. At this epoch,
in 1 803, unfortunately for the spirit of freedom in England, and
of course on the Continent, to which she serves as a beacon
the opposition, headed by Mr. Fox, followed a path altogether
mistaken with respect to Bonaparte ; and thenceforward their
party, so honourable in other points of view, lost that influence
with the nation which for many reasons it would have been de
sirable that it should have retained. It was already too much

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

to have defended the French Revolution under the reign of ter
ror ; but it was, if possible, a still more dangerous fault to con
sider Bonaparte as adhering to the principles of that revolution,
of which he was the ablest destroyer. Sheridan, who by his
knowledge and by his talents had the means of establishing his
own fame and increasing that of his country ,>showed clearly to
the opposition the part which she ought to play, in the eloquent
speech which he delivered on the peace pf Amiens.
" The situation of Bonaparte, and the organization of his
power, are such," said Sheridan, " that he must enter into a
frightful barter with his subjects. He must promise to make
them the masters of the world, that they may consent to be his
slaves ; and if such be his end, against what power must he turn
his restless looks, if not against Great Britain. Some haye
pretended that he would have no other rivalship with us than
that of commerce : happy were this man, if he had ever enter
tained such views of administration ; but strange to say, he folr
lows the old method of prohibitions and excessive taxes. He
would wish, however, to arrive at our ruin by a shorter road.
He conceives, perhaps, that if this country is once subjugated,
he will be able to transport our commerce, our capital, and our
credit to his own, as he brought the pictures and statues of Italy
to Paris. But his ambitious hopes would be soon deceived :
that credit would disappear under the gripe of power ; that ca
pital,, would sink into the earth, if it were trampled at the feet of
a despot; and those commercial enterprises would be void of
vigour in the presence of an arbitrary government. If he
writes in his tablets' some marginal notes relative to what he
means to do with the different countries which he has subdued
or intends to subdue, the whole text is consecrated to the de
struction of our native land. .It is his first thought when he
awakes ; it is his prayer to whatever divinity he addresses, Ju
piter or Mahomet, the God of Battles, or the Goddess of Rea
son. An important lesson should be drawn frpm the arrogance
of Bonaparte : he calls himself the instrument of which Provi
dence has made choice to restore happiness to Switzerland, and
splendour and importance to Italy ; and we too, we should con-

2& CONSIDERATIONS ON
sider him as an instrument of whom Providence has made
choice, tp attach us, if possible, more firmly to our constitution,
to make us feel the value pf the Uberty which it secures to us,
to annihilate all differences of opinion in the presence of this
great interest, in fine, to keep incessantly in our recollection,
that every man who leaves France and arrives in England,
thinks he has escaped from a dungeqn to breathe the air and
the life of independence."
Liberty would now be , triumphant in the universal opinion,
if ¦ a JI whp rallied round this noble hope had seen clearly at the
pommencement of Bonaparte's reign, that fhe first of the coun
ter-revolutionists, and the only one who was then formidable.
was the man who clothed himself with the national colours, that
he might re-establish with impunity all that had vanished be
fore them.
The dangers, with which the ambition of the First Consul
threatened England, are marked out with as much truth as force
in the speech which we have just quoted. The English minis
try is therefore amply justified in having begun the war anew ;
but, although in the sequel they may have lent mpre or less
countenance to the personal enemies of Bonaparte, they have
never gone the length pf. authorizing an attempt against his life :
such an idea did not occur to the leaders of a Christian people.
Bonaparte was in great danger frqm the infernal machine, a
mode of assassination the most blameable of all, because it
threatened the life of a great number of persons at the same
time with that of the Consul. But the English ministers had no
ghare in this conspiracy ; there is reason to believe, that the
Chouans, that is to say, the Jacobins of the aristocratical party,
¦were alone guilty. On this pccasion, however, a hundred and
thirty revolutionists were transported, though they had no con
cern in the infernal machine. But it seemed natural to take
advantage of the alarm which this event caused, to get rid of
aji yyhota it was so desirable to proscribe.. A singular mode,
yre must acknowledge, pf treating the human species ! The
men, it will be said, who were treated thus were odious charac-
jgfs. That may be true ; but what though it be ? WiU France

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 29
never learn that there is no respect of persons in the eye of the
law ? The agents of Bonaparte adopted the extravagant prin
ciple of striking both parties, when one of them was in the
%vrong : and this they called impartiality. About the same
time, a man, to whom we may spare the disgrace of being nam
ed, proposed that all who should be convicted of an attempt
against the life of the First Consul should be burned alive.
The proposal of cruel punishments seems to belong to another
age than ours ; but flattery is not always satisfied with grovel
ling in insipidity, and meanness very easily becomes ferOcity.

30 CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER VI.
Of fhe solemn Celebration of the Concordat at Notre-Dame.
At the epoch of the accession of Bonaparte the sincerest par
tisans of the Catholic faith, after having long been victims of a
political inquisition, aspired to nothing more than perfect reli
gious liberty. The general wish of the nation was limited to
this: that all persecution of priests should cease for the future;
that no kind of oath should be required of them any longer ;
that the state, in short, should in no respect interfere with the
religious notions of any one. The Consular government,
therefore, would have satisfied opinion by maintaining in France
a Complete toleration, like what exists in America, among a
people, whose uniform piety proved and best proved by rigid
morals, cannot be called in question. But the First Consul Was
occupied with no such holy thoughts ; he knew that if the cler
gy resumed a political consistence, their influence would pro
mote the interests of despotism; and his intention was to pre
pare the way for his arrival at the throne.
He wanted a clergy, as he wanted chamberlains, titles, deco
rations, in short, all the ancient caryatides of power; and he
alone was in a situation to restore them. Complaints have
been made of the return of old institutions ; and it must never
be forgotten, that it was Bonaparte who brought them back.
It was he who reorganized the clergy, to render them subser
vient to his designs. The revolutionists, who, fourteen years
ago, were still formidable, would never have allowed a political
existence to be thus restored to. the priests, if a man, whom they
considered in some respects as one of their party, had not as
sured them, when he presented a concordat with the Pope, that
the measure was the result of profound combinations, and would
be useful in maintaining the new institutions. The revolution
ists, with a few exceptions, are violent, rather than crafty ; and,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 31
for that very reason, are flattered by being treated as men of
talent. Bonaparte, assuredly, is not religious ; and, the species of su
perstition, of which some traces have been discovered in his
character, relates solely to the worship of himself. He has
faith in his own peculiar fortune, and has manifested the senti
ment in different ways. But from Mahometanism to the religion
of the fathers of the desert, from the agrarian law to the cere
monial of the couit of Louis XIV. his understanding is ready
to conceive, and his character to execute, what circumstances
may require. As his natural inclination^ however, was towards
despotism, he liked what favoured it ; and he would have pre
ferred the ol$ regime of France more than any person, if hp
could have persuaded the world that he was lineally descended
from St. Louis.
He has often expressed his regret that he did not reign in a
country where the monarch was also head of the church, as in
England and Russia ; but as he found the French clergy still
devoted to the court of Rome, he chose to negotiate with it.
One day he assured the prelates, that, in his opinion, there was
no religion but th\CathoIic, which was truly founded on an
cient traditions ; and~ oiTthis subject he usually displayed to
them some erudition acquired the day before : then, when he
was with the philosophers, he said to Cabanis, Do you know
what this concordat is which I have just signed? It is the vac
cination of religion, and in fifty years there will be none in France.
It was neither religion nor philosophy which he cared,for in the '
existence of a clergy entirely submissive to his will ; but as he
had heard mention made of the alliance between the altar and
the throne, he began by raisjng up the altar. The celebration
of the concordat was, therefore, if we may use the expression,
a full-dressed rehearsal of his coronation.
In the, month of April, 1802, he ordered a grand ceremony
at Notre-Dame. He was present with regal pomp ; and nam
ed for, orator at this inauguration — whom ? the Archbishop of
Aix, the same who had delivered the coronation sermon in the
cathedral of Rheims on the day when Louis XVI. was crown-

32 Considerations On
ed. Two motives determined him to this choice : the ingerilous
hope, that the more he imitated the monarchy, the more he
suggested the idea of himself being invested with it ; and the
perfidious design of so degrading the Archbishop of Aix, as to
render him wholly dependent, and give the world the measure
of his own ascendency. He has always wished, when the thing
was possible, that a man of note, in adhering to him, should do
some action blameable enough to ruin him in the esteem of eve
ry other party. To burn one's ships was to make a sacrifice
of reputation to him : he wished to convert men into a sort of
coin, which derives its value only from the impress of the mas
ter : subsequent events have proved, that this coin could re
turn into circulation with a fresh image. ,«¦¦
On the day of the concordat, Bonaparte repaired to the
church of Notre-Dame, in the old royal carriages, with the
same coachmen, the' same footmen walking by the side of the
door ; he had the whole etiquette of the court most minutely
detailed to him ; and though first consul of a republic, applied
to himself all this pomp of royalty. Nothing, I allow, ever
excited in me 'so strong a feeling of resentment. I had shut
myself up in my house that I might not behold the odious spec
tacle ; but I heard the discharges of cannon which were cele
brating the servitude of the French people. For was there not
something peculiarly disgracefulin having overturned the an
cient regal institutions, surrounded at least with noble recollec
tions, to take back the same institutions, in the forms of upstarts, '
and with the chains of despotism 1 On that day we might have
addressed to the French the beautiful words of Milton to his
countrymen : We shall become the shame of free nations, andthe
plaything of those which are not free ; is this, strangers will say,
the edifice of liberty which the English boasted of building ?
They have done nothing but precisely what was requisite to ren
der them for ever ridiculous in the eyes of all Europe. The
English at least have not fulfilled this prediction.
In returning from Notre-Dame, the First Consul said in the
midst of his generals, Is it not true that to-day every thing ap
peared restored to ihe ancient order ? " Yes," Was the noble

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33.
reply of one of them* " except two millions of Frenchmen,
who have died for liberty, and who cannot be brought to life."
Millions more have perished since, but for despotism.
The French are bitterly accused of irreligion. Oiffe of the
principal causes of- this unhappy result is, that the various
factions for twenty-five years have always wished to direct re
ligion to a political end, and nothing is less favourable to piety,
than to employ it with any other views than those which belong
to itself. The nobler its sentiments are in their own nature,
the more repugnance they inspire, when hypocrisy and ambi
tion take advantage of them. After Bonaparte was Emperor,
he appointed the same Archbishop of Aix, of whom we have
been speaking, to the Archbishopric of Tours ; the Archbish
op, in turn, in one of his pastoral charges^ exhorted the nation
to acknowledge NaP°leon as legitimate sovereign of France.
The minister, who had the superintendance of religious affairs,
while he was walking with a friend of mine, showed him this
charge, and said : " See, he calls the Emperor great, generous,
illustrious : all that is very well ; but legitimate is the import
ant word in the mouth of a priest." During twelve years from
the date of the concordat, the ecclesiastics of every rank have
never let an opportunity pass of praising Bonaparte in their
way, that is, by calling him the envoy of God, the instrument
.of his decrees, the representative of Providence upon earth.
The same priests have since doubtless preached another doc
trine ; but how can it be supposed that a clergy, always at the
orders of the existing authority, whatever that may be, should
add to the ascendency of religion over the soul ?,
The catechism which was received in every church during
the reign of Bonaparte, threatened with eternal punishment
whoever should not love and defend the dynasty of Napoleon.
If you do not love Napoleon and his family, said the catechism,
{which, with this exception, was the catechism of Bossuet,)
what will happen to you ? Answer : Then we shall incur ever
lasting damnation.* Was it to be believed, however, that Bo-
* P 55 Q. What are the duties of Christians towards the princes who govern
them, and what are our duties in particular towards Napoleon I. our Emperor?
VOL. Il» 5

34 CONSIDERATIONS ON
napar^e would dispose of hell in the next world, because he
gave ihe idea of it in the present ? The truth is, that nations
have no sincere piety, except in countries where the doctrine
of the ch"uTch is unconnected - with political dogmas, in coun
tries where the priests exercise no power over the state, in
countries, in short, where a man may love God and Christiani
ty with all his soul, without losing, and still more without ob
taining any worldly advantage by the manifestation of this sen
timent. A. Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and we owe in particular to
Napoleon I. our Emperor, love, respect, obedience, fidelity, military service, the
taxes which are imposed for the preservation and defence of the empire and his
throne.  To honour and serve the Emperor is therefore to honour and serve
God himself.
Q. Are there not particular motives Which ought to attach us more strongly to
Napoleon I. our Emperor ?
A. Yes ; for it is he whom God hath raised up in difficult times to re-establish
the public worship of the holy religion of our ancestors, arid to be its protector.
He has restored and preserved public order by his profound and active wisdom :_
he defends the state by his powerful arm ; he is become the anointed of the Lord,
by the consecration which he hath received from the sovereign Pontiff, the head of
the Catholic church.
Q. What ought we to think of those who should fail in their duty towards our
Emperor ?
A. According to the Appstle Paul, tlley would resist the established order of
God himself, and would render themselves worthy of everlasting damnation.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 35
CHAPTER VII.
M. Necker'' s last Work under, the Consulship, of Bonaparte.
M. Necker had a conversation with Bonaparte, as he passed
into Italy by Mount St. Bernard, a little time before the battle
of Marengo : during this conversation, which lasted two hours,
the First Consul made a rather agreeable impression on my fa
ther, by the confidential way in which he spoke to him of his
future plans. No personal resentment therefore animated M.
Necker against Bonaparte, when he published his book, entitled,
Last Political and Financial Views. The death of the Due
d'Enghien had not yet occurred ; many people hoped for much
benefit from the government of Bonaparte : and M. Necker was
in two respects dependent upon him ; both because he was de
sirous that I should not be banished from Paris, where I loved
exceedingly to stay ; and because his deposite of two millions
was still in the hands of the government, in other words, of the
First Consul. But M. Necker, in his retirement, had imposed
the propagation of truth as an official duty upon himself, the
obligations of which no motive could induce him to neglect. He
wished order and freedom, monarchy and a representative go
vernment to be given to France ; and as often as any deviation
from this line occurred, he thought it his duty to employ his
talent as a writer, and his knowledge as a statesman, to endea
vour to bring back men's minds towards the Irue object. At
that time, however, regarding Bonaparte as the defender of or
der, and the preserver of France from anarchy, he called him
the necessary man ; and in several passages of his books praised
his abilities again and again with the highest expressions of es
teem. But these eulogiums did not pacify,the First Consul.
M. Necker had touched upon the point which bis ambition felt
most acutely, by discussing the project lie had formed of esta
blishing a monarchy in France of which he was to be the head,

36 CONSIDERATIONS on
and of surrounding himself with a nobility of his own creation
Bonaparte did not wish that his design should be announced
before.it was accomplished ; still less was he' disposed lo allow
its faults to be pointed out. Accordingly, aS soon as this work
appeared, the journalists received orders to attack it with the
greatest fury. Bonaparte distinguished M. Necker as the prin
cipal author of the Revolution, for if he loved this Revolution be
cause it had set him on the throne, he hated jt by his instinct of
despotism : he would have wished to have the effect without the
cause. Besides, his genius in hatred sagaciously suggested to
him that M. Necker, who suffered more than any one from the
misfortunes which had struck so many respectable people in
France, would be deeply wounded by being designafed, though
in the most unjust manner, as the man who had prepared them.
No claim for the restoration of my father's deposite was ad
mitted after the publication of his book in 1802 ; and the First
Consul declared, in the circle of his court, that he would not
permit me to return to Paris any more, because, he said, I had
given my father such false information on the state of France.
Assuredly my father had no need of me for any thing in this
world, except, I hope, for my affection; and when I arrived at
Coppet, his manuscript was already in the press. It is curious
to observe what it was in this book that could excite so keenly
the resentment of the First Consul.
In the first part of his work, M. Necker analyzed the consu
lar constitution as it then existed, and examined also the hypo
thesis of the royalty established by Bonaparte, as it might then
be foreseen. He laid it down as a maxim, that there is no re
presentative system without direct election by the people, and"
that nothing can justify a deviation from this principle. Then
proceeding to examine the aristocratical institution, which was
to serve as a barrier between the national representation and
the executive power, M. Necker judged beforehand the Con
servative Senate to be, what it has since shown itself, a body to
whom every thing wpuld be referred, and which could do no
thing ; a body which received on the first of every month
salaries from the very government it was supposed to con-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 37
trol. The senators were necessarily mere commentators on the
will of the Consul. A numerous assembly became conjointly
responsible for the acts of an individual ; and every one felt
more at liberty to degrade himself under the shadow of the ma
jority. , -
M. Necker then foretold the suppression of the Tribunate,
as it took place under the consulship. " The. tribunes," said
he, " will think twice of it, before they render themselves trou
blesome, or run the risk of displeasing a senate, which every
year mustfix their political lot, and perpetuate theihpr not in their
places. The constitution, in giving the Conservative Senate
the right of- renewing annually the Legislative Body and the
Tribunate by fifths, does not explain in what manner the ope
ration is to be executed : it does not say whether the fifth, which
is to give way ta another, shall be determined by lot, or by the
arbitrary selection of the Senate. It cannot be doubled, but
that when once a right of seniority shall be established, the fifth
which ranks first in point of time should be selected to go out
at the end of five years, and each of the other fifths in a succes
sion arranged on the same principle. But the question is still
very important, when applied merely to the members of the
Tribunate and of the Legislative Body, who are chosen toge
ther at the outset of the constitution ; and if the Senate, without
having recourse to lot, should assume the right of naming at plea
sure the fifth which is to go put annually during five years, (this
is what it did,) freedom of opinion will be henceforth restrained
in a very powerful manner.
" There is truly a singular disproportion in the power given
to the Conservative Senate : it can remove from the Tribunate
whomsoever it shall think fit, as far as one fifth of the whole ;
yet it is not itself authorized to act in the preservation or de
fence of the constitution, unless by the advice and direction of
the Tribunate. What a superiority in one sense, what an in
feriority in the other ! No part of the structure seems to have
been built with' symmetry."* •
* Last Views on Politics and Finance- p. 41.-

38 CONSIDERATIONS ON
On this point I would venture to dissent from my father's
opinion ; there was a kind of unity in this incoherent organi
zation ; it aimed constantly and craftily at resembling liberty,
while it was introducing slavery. Ill-contrived constitutions are
well calculated to effect such a result ; but that always proceeds
from the evil intention of the framer ; fpr every upright under
standing at present knows in what the natural and spontaneous
springs of liberty consist.
Then passing to the examination of the mule Legislative
Body, of which we have already spoken, M. Necker, says, with
respect to the power of introducing laws, " The government,
by an exclusive appropriation, is alone to propose laws. The
English would deem themselves ruined, as a free people, if the
exercise of such a right were taken away from their parliament ;
if a prerogative, in itself most important, and the peculiar at
tribute of civil power, were ever to escape from their hands.
The monarch himself shares in it only indirectly, and through
the medium of those members of the House of Lords and the
House of Commons, who are at the same time his ministers.
" The representatives of the nation, who come from all parts
of a kingdom or republic, to assemble annually in ihe capital,
and who a'gain return to their homes in the intervals between
their sessions, necessarily collect valuable notions on the im
provements of which the administration of the state is suscep
tible. Besides, the power of proposing laws is a political fa-/
culty, fruitful in social thoughts, of universal utility, and requir
ing in the exercise of it an investigating spirit and patriotic
soul, whilst, to accept or refuse a law, judgment alone is neces
sary. Such was the limited office of the ancient parliaments
of France. Reduced to this function, and unable to jud°-e of
objects except one by one, they never acquired general ideas."*
The Tribunate was instituted to denounce all kinds of ar
bitrary proceedings ; imprisonments, banishments, blows aim
ed at the liberty of the press. M. Necker shows that, as its
election depended on the Senate, and not on the people, it was
I,ast Views on Politics and Finance, p. 53.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 39
not strong enough for such a function. However, as the First
Consul meant to give it many occasions of complaint, he pre
ferred the suppression of it, whatever might be its tameness.
The name alone was too republican for the ears of Bonaparte.
It is thus that M. Necker afterwards expresses himself on
the responsibility of the agents of power : " Let us in the
mean time point out an arrangement of more real consequence,
though in a way quite opposite to all ideas of responsibility,
and meant to declare the agents of government independent.
The consular constitution says, that all agents of the govern
ment, besides ministers, cannot be prosecuted for acts relative
to their functions, but in virtue of a decision of the Council of
State ; and then the prosecution is carried on before the ordi
nary tribunals. Let us observe in the first place, that in virtue
of a decision of the Council of State, and in virtue ofa deci
sion of the First Consul, are two things that amount to the same ;
for the Council does not of its own accord deliberate upon any
subject ; the Consul, who names and dismisses the members at
his will, takes their opinions, either assembled in a body, or
more frequently distributed into sections, according to the na-
ture of the business ; and in the last resort, his own decision is
the rule. But this is of little importance ; if the principal ob
ject of the arrangement which I have stated is to exempt the
agents of the government from every species of inspection and
prosecution on the part of the Tribunals, without the consent
of the government itself. Thus, however audaciously, how
ever scandalously a receiver or assessor of taxes may prevari
cate, the First Consul must determine, before any thing can be
done, whether there is ground of accusation. In like manner
he will be the sole judge, if other agents of his authority deserve
to be called to account for any abuse of power; it is of no im
portance whether the abuse relates to contributions, to requisi
tions of personal labour, to supplies of any kind, to the quar
tering of soldiers, and to forced enlistments, designated by the
name of conscription. Never has a moderate government been
able to exist on such terms. I shall not here adduce the ex
ample of England, where such political laws would be consi-

40 Considerations on
dered as a total dissolution of freedom : but I will say, that
under the ancient French monarchy, neither a parliament, nor
an inferior court of justice, would have asked the consent of
the prince to punish the acknowledged misconduct of a public
agent, or a manifest abuse of power : a particular tribunal,
under the name of the Court of Aids, had the ordinary juris
diction over claims and offences concerning the revenue, and
bad no need of a special permission to discharge this duty in
all its extent.
" In fine, Agent of Government is too vague an expression :
authority in its immense circumference may have ordinary and
extraordinary agents ; a letter of a minister, of a prefect, of a
lieutenant of police, is sufficient to constitute an agent ; and if
in the exercise of their functions they are all out of the reach*
of justice, without a special permission from the prince, the go
vernment will have in its hands men whom such an exemption
will render very bold, and who will likewise be sheltered from
•shame by their direct dependence on the supreme authority.
What chosen instruments for tyranny !"
Might we not say, that M. Necker, when he wrote these
words in 1802, foresaw what the Emperor has since done with
his Council of State ? We have seen the functions of the judi
cial order pass gradually into the hands of that administrative
authority, which was without responsibility, as it was without
bounds ; we have even seen it usurp the prerogatives of legisla
tion ; and this divan had only its master to dread.
M. Necker, after having proved that there was no Republie
in France under the Consular government, easily concluded
that it was Bonaparte's intention to arrive at royalty : and he
then developed in a very forcible manner the difficulty of esta
blishing a moderate monarchy, without having recourse to
great nobles previously existing, who are usually inseparable
from a prince of ancient lineage. Military glory may certainly
supply the place of ancestors ; it acts upon the imagination
even more powerfully than recollections ; but as a King must
surround himself with superior ranks, it is impossible to find a
sufficient number of citizens illustrious by their exploits to con-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 41
stitute an aristocracy altogether new, which may serve as a bar
rier to the authority which gave it existence. Nations are not
Pygmalions, who adore their own work ; and the Senate, com
posed of new men chosen from among a crowd of equals, had
no consciousness of energy, and inspired no respect.
Let us hear on this topic M. Necker's own words. They
apply to the Chamber of Peers, such as it was hastily consti
tuted by Bonaparte in 1815 ; but they apply especially to the
military government of Napoleon, which, however, in 1802, was
very far from being established as we have since seen it. " If
then, either by a political revolution Or by a revolution in opi
nion, you have lost the elements which produce great nobles,
consider yourselves as having lost the elements which produce
moderate hereditary monarchy, and turn your views, whatever
difficulties you may encounter, to another social system.
" I do not believe that Bonaparte, with all his talent, all his
genius, and all his power, could succeed in establishing at the
present day in France a moderate hereditary monarchy. The
opinion is important : I shall allege my reasons ; let others
judge. " I wish at the outset to observe, that this opinion is contrary
to what we have heard repeated since the election of Bona
parte. France, it was often said, is about to have recourse to
the government of one man ; that is a point gained for mo
narchy. But what do such words mean ? nothing at all. For
we do not wish to speak indifferently' of monarchy elective or
hereditary, despotic or moderate, hut solely of moderate here
ditary monarchy : and without doubt the government of any
Asiatic prince that you may choose to name is more distinct
from the monarchy of England than the American Republic.
" There is an instrument, unconnected with republican ideas,'
unconnected with the principles of moderate monarchy, which
may be used for the establishment and support of an hereditary
government. It is the same which placed and perpetuated the
imperial sway in the hands of the great families of Rome, the
Julii, the Claudii, the Flavii, and which was afterwards employ
ed to subvert their authority : I mean military force— the pr*-
VOL. II. fi

42 CONSIDERATIONS ON
torian guards, the armies of the East and West. May heaven
save France from a similar destiny !"
What a prophecy ! If I have insisted several times on the
singular merit which M. Necker has had in his political works
of predicting events, it is to show how a man deeply versed in
the science of constitutions may know their result beforehand.
It has been otten said in France, that constitutions are nothing,
and circumstances every thing. Such language becomes the
worshippers of arbitrary power, but the assertion is as false as
it is slavish.
The resentment of Bonaparte at the publication of this work
was extremely keen, because it drew an early attention to his
dearest projects, and those which were the most exposed to the
attacks of ridicule. A sphinx of a new species, he turned his
wrath against the man who solved the riddle. The importance
which arises from military glory may, it is true, supply every
thing: but an empire founded on the chances of battles, was
not enough for the ambition of Bonaparte; he wished to esta
blish his dynasty, although he could in his lifetime support only
his own greatness.
The Consul Le Brun wrote to M. Necker a letter, dictated
by Bonaparte, in which all the arrogance of ancient prejudices
was combined with the rude harshness of the new despotism.
In it M. Necker was likewise accused of having been the man
who caused a double number of deputies to be allowed to the
third estate, of having constantly one invariable scheme of a
constitution, &c. The enemies of freedom hold all the same
language, however different the situation from which they pro
ceed. M. Necker was then advised to meddle no more with
politics, and to leave them to the First Consul, who only was
capable of governing France with wisdom ; thus despots ever
consider thinking men to be superfluous in affairs. The Con
sul finished with declaring that I, the daughter of M. Necker
should be exiled from Paris, merely on account of the " Last
Views on Politics and Finances," published by my father.
I have since, 1 hope, merited this exile by my own conduct •
but Bonaparte, who took the trouble ol inquiring that he might

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
wound more effectually, wished to disturb the pFTySSpSTbur
domestic life, by holding up my father to me as the author of
my exile. This reflection occurred to my father, who gave
ready admission to every scruple ; but, thanks to Heaven, he
was, able to satisfy himself, that it never for an instant haunted
me. A very remarkable thing in the last and perhaps the best
political work of M. Necker, is, that after having in preceding
books combated with much force the republican system in
France, he examines for the first time* tvhat would be the best
form that could be given to that kind of government. On the
one- hand, the sentiments of opposition to the despotism of Bo
naparte, which animated M. Necker, inclined him to employ the
only weapons that could still reach such an adversary : on the
other, at a moment when there was no reason to dread the
danger of exciting the public mind too keenly, a political philo
sopher amused himself with examining a most important ques
tion to. the full extent of the truth.
- Thermost remarkable idea in this examination is, that when
once we decide -in favour of a republic, instead of wishing to
: bring, it as near to a monarchy as possible, we should, on the
contrary.} place- all its strength in popular elements. As the
dignity of such an institution reposes only on the assent of the
nation, the power which, in this case, is to fill the place of every
other, should be made to appear in a. variety of forms. This
profound maxim is the. basis Of that scheme of a republic, of
which M. Necker details all the parts, — though, with the often
repeated caution, that, he would not advise a great country to
adopt it.
He concludes his last work by some general considerations
on finances., They contain two essential truths.: First, the con
sular government was in a much better situation in this respect
than the King of France had ever been, because, on the one
hand, the increase of territory increased the receipts, while, cn
the other, the reduction of the debt diminished the expenses ;
and, besides, the taxes were more productive, though the peo
ple were less burthened, by reason of the suppression of tithes

44 CONSIDERATIONS ON
and feudal rights. In the second place, M. Necker affirmed, in
180i!, that credit could never exist without a free constitution s
not, assuredly, that the leaders ofthe present day have an en
thusiastic love of liberty, but because the calculation of their
interest teaches them that confidence can be put only in durable
institutions, and not in ministers of finance, whom caprice has
chosen, whom caprice may remove, and who, ir. the retirement
of their closet, decide upon what is just and unjust, without ever
being illuminated by the broad daylight of public opinion.
Bonaparte, in truth, maintained his finances by the produce
of foreign contributions, and by the revenue of his conquests ;
but he could not have borrowed freely the most inconsiderable
portion of the sums which he collected by force. It would be
good advice to sovereigns in general, who wish to know the truth
with respect to their government, that they should judge rather
from the manner in which their loans are filled up, than from
the testimony of their flatterers.
Though Bonaparte could find in M. Necker's work no words
concerning himself which were not flattering, he let loose against
him with unheard-of bitterness the journals, which were all at
his cpmmand ; and from that time this system of calumny has
never ceased. The same writers, under different colours, have
never varied in their hatred against a man, who was the advo
cate of tlie most rigid economy in the finances, and of such in
stitutions in government as compel rulers to be just.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 4S
CHAPTER VIII.
Of Exile.
Among all the prerogatives of authority, one of the most fa
vourable to tyranny is the power of banishing without trial.
The lettres de cachet of the old regime had been justly held
forth as one of the most urgent motives for effecting a revolu
tion in France : yet it was Bonaparte, the chosen man of the
people, who, trampling under foot all the principles the sup
port of which had caused the popular insurrection, assumed
the power of banishing whoever displeased him even a little,
and of imprisoning without any interference on the part of the
tribunals, whoever displeased him in a higher degree. 1 can
understand, I admit, how the greater part of the old courtiers
rallied round the political system of Bonaparte : they had only
one concession to make to him, that of changing their master:
but how could the republicans submit to his tyranny; the re
publicans, whom every word, every act, every decree of his go
vernment must have shocked.
A very considerable number of men and women of different
opinions have been sufferers by these decrees of exile, which
give the sovereign of the state a more absolute authority than
even that which can result from illegal imprisonments : for it is
more difficult to carry into effect a violent measure, than to ex
ert a species of power, which, though terrible in reality, has
something benign in its form. The imagination clings to an
insurmountable obstacle ; great men, — Themistocles, Cicero,.
Bolingbroke, were extremely wretched in exile : Bolingbroke,
in particular, declares in his writings, that death seemed to him
less terrible.
To remove a man or a woman from Paris, to send them, as
it was then called, to breathe the air of the country, was desig
nating a severe punishment by such gentle expressions, that the

46 CONSIDERATIONS ON
flatterers of power turned it easily into derision. Yet the fear
of such an exile was sufficient to make all the inhabitants of the
principal city of the empire stoop to slavery. The scaffolds
may at last rouse resistance ; but domestic vexations of every
kind, which are the result of banishment, weaken resistance,
and cause you to dread only the displeasure of the sovereign
who can impose upon you so wretched an existence. You may
pass your life voluntarily out of your own country : but when
you are constrained to do so, you are incessantly imagining tha.t
the objects of your affection may be sick, while you are not
permitted io be near them, and will perhaps never see them
again. The affections of your choice, often family affections
too, your habits of society, the interests of your fortune, are all
compromised ; and what is still more cruel, every tie is relax
ed, and you finally become a stranger in your native land.
I have often thought, during the twelve years of exile to
which Bonaparte condemned me, that he could not feel the mis
fortune of being deprived of France. He had no French re
collections in his heart. The rocks of Corsica alone retraced
to him the days of his infancy : but the daughter of M. Necker
was more French than he. I reserve for another work, of which
several passages are already written, all the circumstances of
my exile, and of the journeys, even to the confines of Asia,
which were the consequences of it : but as I have almost for
bidden myself to draw portraits of living characters, I could
not give to the history of an individual the kind of interest
which it ought to have. In the mean time, I must limit myself
to retracing what may enter with propriety into the general
plan of this work.
I discovered sooner than others (and I am proud of it) the
tyrannical character and designs of Bonaparte. The true
friends of liberty are guided in such subjects by an instinct
which does not deceive them. To render my situation at the
beginning of the consulship still more painful, people of fashion
in France thought that they saw in Bonaparte the man who
saved them from anarchy or Jacobinism ; and they therefore
blamed strongly the spirit of opposition which I exhibited

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 47
against him. Whoever in politics foresees to-morrow, excites
the resentment of those who think only of to-day. More cou
rage, I will venture to say, was requisite to support the persecu
tion of society, than to encounter that of power.
I have always retained the recollection of one of these draw
ing-room punishments, if I may so express myself, which the
French aristocrats know so well how to inflict on those who do
not participate in thfcir opinions. A great part of the ancient
nobility had rallied round Bonaparte ; some, as has since ap
peared, to resume the habits of courtiers ; others, in the hope
that the First Consul would restore the old dynasty. It was
known that I had declared myself decidedly against the system
of government which Napoleon was following and was prepar
ing ; and the partisans of arbitrary power gave, as usual, the
name of antisocial to opinions which tend to exalt the dignity
of nations. If some of the emigrants, who returned under the
reign of Bonaparte, were to call to mind the fury with which
they then blamed the friends of liberty who continued always
attached to the same system, perhaps they would learn indul
gence by recollecting'their errors.
I was the first woman whom Bonaparte exiled ; but a great
number, adherents of opposite opinions, soon shared my fate.
Among others, a very interesting personage, the Dutchess de
Chevreuse, died of grief occasioned by her exile. She could
not, when at the point of death, obtain permission from Napo
leon to return once more to Paris, to consult her physician, and
enjoy a last sight of her friends. Whence proceeded this luxu
ry in mischief, if not from a sort of hatred against all indepen
dent beings ? And as women on the one hand could in no re
spect promote his political designs, while on the other they were
less accessible than men to the hopes and fears of which power
is the dispenser, he regarded them with peevish resentment as
so many rebels, and took pleasure in addressing to them vulgar
and injurious speeches. He hated the spirit of chivalry, as
much as he sought after etiquette, — a bad selectiqn undoubted
ly from the manners of ancient days. He likewise retained
from his early habits during the Revolution a Jacobinical anti-

48 CONSIDERATIONS ON
pathy to the brilliant society of Paris, over which the women
exercised a great ascendency : he dreaded in them the art ot
pleasantry, which, it must be allowed, belongsparticularly to
French women. Had Bonaparte been satisfied with acting the
proud part of a great general and first magistrate of the repub
lic, he would have soared in all the height of his genius far
above the small but pointed shafts of drawing-room wit. But
when he entertained the design of becoming an upstart king,
a citizen gentleman upon the throne, he exposed himself as a
fine aim to the mockery of fashion ; and to restrain it, as he has
done, he was obliged to have recourse to terror, and the em
ployment of spies.
Bonaparte wished me to praise him in my writings, not as
suredly that a eulogium the more would have been remarked
in the fumes of the incense wliich surrounded him ; but he was
vexed that I should be the only writer of reputation in France,
who had published books during his reign without making any
mention of his gigantic existence, and at last with inconceiva
ble rage he suppressed my work on Germany. Till then my
disgrace had consisted merely in my removal from Paris ; but
from that time I was forbidden to travel, and was threatened with
imprisonment for the remainder of my days. The contagion
of exile, the noble invention of the Roman Emperors, was the
most cruel aggravation of this punishment. They who came
to see the banished, exposed themselves to banishment in their
turn ; the greater part of the Frenchmen with whom I was ac
quainted avoided me, as if I had been tainted with a pestilence.
This appeared to me like a comedy, when the pain it gave was
not extreme : and as travellers under quarantine mischievous
ly throw their handkerchiefs to the passers by, to compel them
to share in the wearisome sameness of their confinement, so
when I happened to meet a man of Bonaparte's court in the
streets of Geneva, I was tempted to terrify him by my polite
attentions. My generous friend, M. Matthieu de Montmorenci, had come
to see me at Coppet, and received, four days after his arrival, a
lettre de cachet, by which he was banished, as a punishment for

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 49
Slaving given the consolation of his presence to a woman who
had been his friend for twenty-five years. I know not what I
would not have done at this moment to avoid such a pain. At
the same time Madame Recamier, who took no concern in po
litics beyond a courageous, interest for the proscribed of all
opinions, came also to see me at Coppet, where we had met
several times already; and, would it be believed? the most
beautiful woman in France, who on this ground alone should
have found defenders every where, was exiled, because she
had come to the country seat of an unfortunate friend a hun
dred and fifty leagues from Paris. This coalition of two wo
men settled on the shore of the lake of Geneva, appeared too
formidable to the master of the world, and he incurred the ridi
cule of persecuting them. But he had once said, Power is never
ridiculous, and assuredly he put this maxim thoroughly to the
proof. How many families have we not seen divided by the fear
which was caused by the .slightest connexions with the exiled ?
At the commencement of the tyranny, there were some distin
guished examples of courage ; but vexation gradually alters our
sentiments, we are exhausted by constant opposition, and we
begin to think that the disgraces of our friends are occasioned
by their own faults. The sages of the family assemble to say,
that there must not be too much communication kept up with
Mr. or Mrs. such a one ; their excellent sentiments, it is de
clared, cannot be doubted, but their imagination is so lively !
In truth they would willingly proclaim all these poor proscribed
sufferers to be great poets, on condition that their imprudence
be admitted as a reason for neither seeing them nor writing to
them. Thus friendship, and even love, are frozen in every
heart ; private qualities fall with the public virtues ; men no
longer care for one another, after having ceased to care for
their country ; and they learn only to employ an hypocritical
language, which contains a softened condemnation of those who
are out of favour, a skilful apology for the powerful, and the
concealed doctrine of egotism.
Bonaparte had above every other man the secret of producing
VOL. II.

50 CONSIDERATIONS ON
that cold isolation which presented men to him individually and
never collectively. He was unwilling that a single person of
his time should exist by his own means, that a marriage should
be celebrated, a fortune acquired, a residence chosen, a talent
exercised, or any resolution taken, without his leave ; and, what
is remarkable, he entered into the minutest details ofthe rela
tions of each individual, so as to unite the empire of the con
queror to the inquisitive curiosity of scandal, and to hold in his
hands the finest threads as well as the strongest chains.
The metaphysical question of the free-will of man became
altogether useless under the reign of Bonaparte ; for no person
could any longer follow his own will, either in the most import
ant circumstances or in the most trifling.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 5t

CHAPTER IX.

Ofthe last Days ofM. Necker.
I would not speak ofthe feeling which the death of my father
produced in me, were it not an additional means of making him
known. When the political opinions of a statesman are still in
many respects the subject of debate in the world, we should not
neglect, to give to his principles the sanction of his character.
Now, what better proof can be given than the impression which
it produced upon the people, who were most within reach of
judging? It is now twelve years since death separated me from
my father, and every day my admiration of him has increased ;
the recollection which I have retained of his talents and virtues,
serves me as a point of comparison to appreciate the worth of
Other men ; and though I have traversed all Europe, a genius
of the same style, a moral principle of the same vigour, has
never come within my way. M. Necker might be feeble from
goodness, and wavering from reflection ; but when he believed
that duty was concerned in a resolution, he thought that he heard
the voice of God ; and whatever attempts might be. made to
shake him, he listened only to it. I have even now more confi
dence in the least of his words, than I should have in any indi
vidual alive, however superior that individual might be: every
thing that M. Necker has said is firm in me as a rock: what I
have gained myself may disappear ; the identity of my being
consists in the attachment which I bear to his memory. I have
loved those whom I love no more ; I have esteemed those whom
I esteem no more ; the waves of life have carried all away, ex
cept this mighty shade whom I see upon the summit of yonder
mountain, pointing out to me with its finger the life to come.
I owe no real gratitude on earth but to God and my father;
the remainder of my days has passed in contention ; he alone
poured his blessing over them. But how much has he not suf->

CONSIDERATIONS ON

fered ! The most brilliant prosperity distinguished one half of
his life ; he was rich ; he had been named prime minister of
France ; the unbounded attachment of Frenchmen had recom
pensed bim for his devotedness to their cause : during the seven
years of his first retirement, his works had been placed in the
first class of those of statesmen-: and. perhaps he was the only
individual who had shown himself profoundly skilled in the art
of governing a great country, without ever deviating from the
most scrupulous morality or even the^ most refined delicacy---
As a religious writer, he had never Ceased1 to<be a philosopher;
as a philosopher, he had never ceased to be religious ; elo
quence had not hurried him away beyond the limits- of reason,
nor had reason ever, deprived him of a single emotion of true
eloquence. To these great advantages he had joined the most
flattering success in society : Madame du; Defiant, who was ac
knowledged to have more lively smartness of conversation than
any other woman in France, declared; in her letters that she had
met with no man more pleasing than M. Necker. He too pos.-
sessed the same charm of conversation, but he employed it only
among his friends. In fine, the universal opinion of France, in
1789, was, that no minister had ever carried further every kind.
of talent and virtue. There is not a city, not a town, not a cor
poration in France, from which we have not addresses expres
sive of this sentiment.. I transcribe here from among a thou
sand others that which was written to the republic of Geneva
by the city of Valence.
" Gentlemen Syndics,
"Amid the enthusiasm of liberty which inflames the whole
French nation, and which penetrates us with a deep sense of
the goodness of our august monarch, we have thought that we
owe you a tribute of. gratitude. It was in the bosom of your
republic that M. Necker first saw the light : it was in the abode
of your public virtues that his heart was trained to the practice
of all those of which he has given us an affecting spectacle ; it
was in the school of your good principles, that he imbibed that
gentle and consoling morality which strengthens confidence, in
spires respeGt, and prescribes obedience to legitimate authori-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 53
ty. It was likewise among you, gentlemen, that his soul ac
quired that firm and vigorous temper which the statesman needs
when he devotes himself with intrepidity to the painful duty of
labouring for the public good.
" Penetrated with veneration for so many different qualities,.
the union of ,]fvhich in M. Necker exalts our admiration, we
think that we owe to the citizens of Geneva a public testimony
of our gratitude, for having formed in its bosom a minister so
perfect in every respect.
" We desire that our letter may be recorded in the registers
©f your republic, that it may be a lasting monument of our ve
neration for your respectable fellow citizen."
Alas ! could it have been foreseen, that so much admiration
would be followed by so much injustice ;; — that he who- cherished
France with a predilection almost too great, would be reproach
ed with entertaining the sentiments ofa stranger; that one par
ty would call him the author of the Revolution,, because he re
spected the rights of the nation, and that the leaders of that na
tion would accuse him of having wished to sacrifice it to the de
fence of the monarchy ? So in former, times, as I am fond oi
repeating, the Chancellor de 1'Hbpital was alternately threaten
ed by the Catholics and the Protestants : so Sully would have
sunk under parly hatred, if the firmness of his master had not
supported him. But neither of these statesmen had that lively
imagination of the heart which renders us accessible to every
kind of pain. M. Necker was calm before God, calm, at the
approach of death, because at that instant conscience alone
spoke. But while he was yet occupied with the interests of
this world, there was not a reproach which did not hurt him, not
an enemy whose ill-will did not wound him, not a day in which
he did not subject himself to twenty different examinations,
sometimes to accuse himself of evils which he could not have
prevented* sometimes to place himself in the rear of events,
and weigh anew the different resolutions which he might have
taken. The purest enjoyments of life were poisoned to him by
the unequalled persecutions of party spirit. This party spirit
showed itself even in the manner in which the- emigrants, in the

54 CONSIDERATIONS ON
time of their distress, applied to him for aid. Several, when
they wrote to him on this subject, apologized for not being able
to visit him, because the chief man among them had forbidden
them to do so. They judged well at least of M. Necker's ge
nerosity, when they believed that this submission to the imper
tinence of their leaders would not prevent him from doing them
service. The slavery of the press, among other inconveniences, pla
ced literary decisions in the hands of the government : the con
sequence was, that, by means of the journalists, the police dis
posed, for the time at least, of the literary success of a writer,
in the same way as it granted licenses for gambling. Accord
ingly the writings of M. Necker, during the concluding period
of his life, were not judged impartially in France ; and this was
an additional evil which he had to bear in his retirement. The
last but one of his works, entitled, A Course of Religious Mo
rality, is, I venture to affirm, one of the best written devotional
books, one of the strongest in thought and eloquence/ of which
the Protestants can boast: andi have often found it in the
hands of persons whose hearts have been stricken with sor
row. Yet the journals under Bonaparte made scarcely any
mention of it; and the little that they said gave no correct idea
of it. There have been in like manner in other countries some
examples of master-pieces in literature, which were not rightly
estimated, till long after the death of their author. It is pain
ful to reflect that one, who was so dear to us, was deprived even
of the pleasure which his talents as a writer indisputedly de
served. He beheld not the day of justice shine forth for his memory,
and his life ended in the very year in which Bonaparte was
about to declare himself Emperor, that is, at an epoch when no
kind of virtue was held in honour in France. Such was the
delicacy of his soul, that the reflection, which tormented him
during his last illness, was the fear of having been the cause of
my exile ; and I was not near to restore him to confidence. He
wrote to Bonaparte with a feeble hand, requesting him to recall
me when he should be no more, I sent this sacred request to

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 55
the Emperor ; he returned no answer : magnanimity always
appeared to him affectation, and he spoke of it pretty freely as
a virtue only of the drama : had he known its powerful influ
ence, he would have been at once a better and an abler man.
After so many sorrows, and the exercise of so many virtues,
the capacity for affection appeared to have increased in my fa
ther, at the age when it diminishes in other men : and every
thing about him announced, that when he ceased to live he re
turned to Heaven.

36 CONSIDERATIONS OS
CHAPTER X.
Abstract of M. Necker's Principles on Government.
It has been often said that religion is necessary for the people ;
and I think it easy to prove, that men of an exalted rank have
still more need of it. The same is true of morality in its con
nexions with politics. Men have never been weary of repeat
ing that it suits individuals, and not nations : the truth, on the
contrary, is, that it is to the government of states that fixed
principles are especially applicable. As the existence of this
or that individual is fleeting and transitory, it sometimes hap
pens that a bad action is useful to him for the moment, in a
conjuncture where his personal interest is at stake ; but as na
tions are durable, they cannot disregard the general and per
manent laws of intellectual order, without proceeding to their
ruin. The injustice which may be advantageous to one man
by way of exception, is always injurious to successions of men,
whose lot "must necessarily fall under the general rule. The
circumstance .which has given some currency to the infernal
maxim which places politics above morality, is, that the lead
ers of the state have been confounded with the state itself.
These chiefs have often experienced, that it was more conve
nient and advantageous for them to extricate themselves at any
price from a present difficulty ; and they have drawn out into
principles the measures to which their selfishness or their inca
pacity induced them to have recourse. A man embarrassed in
his affairs would willingly establish the theory — that borrowing
at high interest is the best financial system which can be adopt
ed. Now, immorality of every kind is borrowing at usurious
interest ; it saves for the moment, to ruin in the end.
M. Necker, during his first ministry, was not in a situation to
think of the establishment of a representative government : in
proposing courts of provincial administration, he wished to set

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 57

en-

a limit to the power of ministers, and to give influence to _.
lightened men and rich proprietors in all parts of France. M.
Necker's first maxim in government was to avoid arbitrary.
power, and to limit the action of the ministry in every thing
that was not necessary to the maintenance of order. A minis
ter, who wishes to do every thing, to order every thing, and
who is jealous of power as a personal enjoyment, is fit for courts,
but not for nations. A man of genius, when such a man finds
himself by chance at the head of public affairs, should try to
render himself useless. Good institutions embody and esta
blish those lofty ideas, which no individual, whoever he may
be, can put in action for more than a short time.
To hatred of arbitrary power, M. Necker joined great re
spect for opinion, and a deep interest for that abstract, yet real
being, called the people, which has not ceased to be the object
of pity, though it has shown itself to be formidable. He be^
lie ved it was necessary to secure to the people knowledge and
comfort ; two inseparable blessings. He did not wish to sacri
fice the nation to privileged casts ; but he was at the same time
of opinion, that ancient customs should be dealt with gently, on
account of new circumstances. He believed in the necessity of
distinctions in society, that the rudeness of power might be di
minished by the voluntary ascendency of consideration : but
aristocracy, according to his conception, was an institution in
tended to excite the emulation of all men of merit.
M. Necker hated wars of ambition, estimated very highly the
resources of France, and believed that such a country, govern
ed by the wisdom of a true national representation, and not by
the intrigues of courtiers, had nothing to desire or fear in the
middle of Europe.
However beautiful, it will be said, the doctrine of M. Nec
ker might be, it has not succeeded, and therefore was not adapt
ed to men as they are. An individual may not obtain from
heaven the favour of aiding the triumph of the truths which he
proclaims ; but are they the less truths on that . account 1
Though Galileo was thrown into prison, have not the laws of
nature discovered by him been since universally acknowledg-

VOL. II.

£8 CONSIDERATIONS ON
ed ? Morality and freedom are as certainly the only bases of
the happiness and dignity of the human race, as the system of
Galileo is the true theory of the celestial motions.
Consider the power of England : whence does it proceed ?
From her virtues, and her constitution. 'Suppose for a moment
that this island, now so prosperous, were all at once deprived
of her laws, of her public spirit, of the freedom ofthe press, of
her parliament, which derives its strength from the people, and
gives them back its own in return, how her fields would be dri
ed up ! How her harbours wpuld be forsaken ! The very agents
of arbitrary power, unable any longer to obtain their subsidies
from a country without credit and without patriotism, would re
gret the liberty which for so long a time had at least supplied
them with treasures.
The misfortunes of the Revolution resulted from the unre
flecting resistance of the privileged ranks lo what reason and
force demanded ; this question is still debated, after twenty-se
ven years. The dangers of the struggle are lessened, because
the parties are weaker ; but its issue will be the same. M.
Necker disdained Machiavelism in politics, quackery in finances,
and arbitrary power in government. He thought that the high
est tajent consisted in bringing society into harmony with the
immutable, though silent laws to which the Divinity has sub
jected human nature. On this ground he may be attacked :
for it is the ground on which, if he were alive, he would still
place himself.
He did not plume himself on that kind of talent which is re
quisite to constitute the leader of a faction or a despot : he had
too much order in his understanding, and too much peace in his
soul, to be fit for those great irregularities of nature which swal
low up the age and the country in which they appear. But if
he had been born an Englishman, I say with pride, that no
minister would ever have surpassed him ; for he was a firmer
frjead to liberty than Mr. Pitt, more austere than Mr. Fox, and
not less eloquent, not less energetic, nor less penetrated with the
dignity of the state than'Lord Chatham. Ah ! why was he not
permitted, like that nobleman, to utter his last words iq the se^

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 69
nate of his country, in the midst of a nation which can judge,
which can be grateful, and whose enthusiasm, far from being
the presage of slavery, is the recompense of virtue !
In the mean time, let us return to the examination of that
political personage who forms the most complete contrast to
the principles which we have just sketched ; and let us see
whether Bonaparte himself does not help to prove the truth of
those principles, which alone could have maintained him in
power, and preserved the glory of the French name.

GO <CONSIDERATiONS ON
CHAPTER XI.
Bonaparte Emperor* The Counter- Revolution effected by him.
When Bonaparte, at the close of the last century put himself
at the head of the French people, the whole nation desired a
free and constitutional government. The nobles, long exiled
from France, aspired only to return in peace to their homes ;
the Catholic clergy invoked toleration ; as the republican war
riors had effaced by their exploits the splendour of the distinc
tions of nobility, the feudal race of ancient conquerors respect
ed the new victors, and a revolution had taken place in the
public mind. Europe was willing to resign to France the bar
rier of the Rhine and the Alps ; and the only thing that re
mained was to secure these advantages by repairing the evils
which the acquisition of them had brought along with it. But
Bonaparte conceived the idea of effecting a counter-revolution
to hig own advantage, by retaining in the state nothing new ex
cept himself. He re-established the throne, the clergy, and
the nobility; a monarchy, as Mr. Pitt said, without legitimacy
and without imitation ; a clergy, who were only the preachers of
despotism ; a nobility composed of old and new families, who
exercised no magistracy in the state, and served only'as a gaudy
decoration of arbitrary power.
Bonaparte opened the door to ancient prejudices, flattering
himself that he could arrest them precisely at the point which
suited his omnipotence. It has been often said, that he would
have kept his place, if he had been moderate. But what is
meant by moderate ? If he had established with sincerity and
dignity the English constitution in France, he would doubtless
still have been emperor. His victories made him a prince : it-
was his love of etiquette, his thirst for flattery, titles, decora
tions, chamberlains that brought him again to view in the cha
racter of an upstart. But however rash his system of con-

THE FREJSCH REVOLUTION. GI
quest might be, from the moment that his soul became so gro- '
veiling as to see no grandeur except in despotism, it was per
haps impossible for him to do without continual wars ; for what
would a despot be without military glory in a country like
France ? Could the nation be oppressed in the interior,, with
out giving it the fatal compensation of ruling elsewhere in its
turn ? Absolute power is the scourge of the human race ; and
all the French governments which have succeeded the Consti
tuent Assembly have perished by yielding to this seduction un
der some pretext or other.
At the moment when Bonaparte wished to be named emperor,
he believed it was necessary to give new confidence on the one
hand to the revolutionists with respect to the possibility of the
return of the Bourbons, and on the other to prove to the royal
ists that, in attaching themselves to him, they separated them
selves irremediably from the cause of the ancient dynasty. It
was to accomplish this double end that he perpetrated the mur
der of a prince of the blood — the Due d'Enghien. He pass
ed the Rubicon of crime, and from that day his downfal was
written in the book of destiny.
One ofthe Machiavelian politicians of the court of Bonaparte
said, on this occasion, that the assassination of D'Enghien was
much worse than a crime, for it was a fault. I have, I acknow
ledge, a profound contempt for all those politicians whose ta
lent consists in showing themselves superior to virtue. Let
them for dhce show themselves superior to egotism, that will be
more uncommon, and even more ingenious.
Nevertheless, those who blamed* the murder of the Due
d'Enghien as a bad speculation, were right even in this view of
the matter. The revolutionists, and the royalists, in spite of
the terrible cement of innocent blood, did not deem themselves
irrevocably united to the lot of their master. He had made in
terest the deity of his partisans ; and the adepts in his doctrine
practised it against himself when misfortune struck him.
In the spring of 1804., after the death of the Due d'Enghien,
and the abominable prosecution of Moreau and Pichegru, when
every mind was filled witb a terror which might in an instant

62 CONSIDERATIONS ON
be Changed into revolt,' Bonaparte sent for some senators with
whom he conversed with affected negligence on the proposition
which had been made to him of declaring himself emperor,
treating it as a matter on which he had not yet come to a fixed
resolution. He took a review of the different lines of conduct
which might be adopted for France, — a republic,: — the recall of
the ancient dynasty, — lastly, the creation of a new monarchy ;
like a person conversing on the affairs of another, and examin
ing them with perfect impartiality. Those who talked with him
resisted with the most vehement energy, as often as he exhibited
arguments in favour of any other power than his ownr At last,
Bonaparte allowed himself to be convinced : Very well, said
he, since you believe that my nomination to the title of Emperor is
necessary to the happiness of France, take at leagt precautions
against mytyranny : — Yes, I repeat it, against my tyranny. Who
knows if, in the situation in which I am about to be placed, I shall
not be tempted to abuse my power? ,
The senators went away moved by this amiable candour, the
consequences of which were the suppression of the Tribunate,
all-complaisant as it was ; the establishment of the exclusive
power of the Council of State, as an instrument in the hand of
Bonaparte"- the government ofthe police, a permanent body of
spies ; and, in the sequel, seven state prisons, where those who
were confined could be judged by no tribunal, as their lot de
pended merely on the decision of the ministers.
To maintain such a tyranny, it was necessary to satisfy the
ambition of all who would engage in its support. The contri
butions of the whole of Europe afforded scarcely a sufficient
supply of money ; and accordingly Bonaparte sought other
treasures in vanity.
The principal moving power of the French Revolution was
the love of equality. Equality in the eye of the law partakes
of justice, and consequently of liberty: but the desire of anni
hilating every superior rank is one of the littlenesses of self-
love. Bonaparte well knew the influpnce of this failing in
France, and this is the mode in which he availed himself of it.
The men who had shared in the Revolution were not'willing

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 63
that there should be classes above them. Bonaparte rallied
them round his standard by promising them the titles and dig
nities of which they had stripped the nobles. " Do you wish
for equality ?" said he to them, " I will do better still — 1 will give
you inequality in your own favour : MM. de la Tremouille, de
Montmorency, &c. will be, according to law, private citizensof the
state, while the titles of the old regime, and the offices at court, will
be possessed, if it so pleases the Emperor, by the most vulgar
names." What a strange idea ! would not one have thought that a
nation, so prompt at laying hold of improprieties, would have de
livered itself up to the inextinguishable laugh ofthe gods of Ho
mer, at seeing all those republicans disguised as dukes, counts,
and barons, and making their attempts in the study ofthe manners
of great lords,, like men repeating a part in a play. A few
songs indeed were composed on these upstarts of every kind,
kings and footmen ;. but the splendour of victories and the force
of despotism made every thing succeed, for some years at least.
The republicans who had been seen disdaining the rewards
given by our monarchs, had no longer room enough upon their
coats for the broad badges, German, Italian, and Russian, with
which they were bespangled. A military order, the iron crown,
or the legion of honour, might be accepted by warriors, in whom
such distinctions recalled their wounds and their exploits : but
did the ribands and keys of a chamberlain, with all the other
apparatus of courts, suit men who had stirred heaven and earth
to abolish such vain pomp ? An English caricature represents
Bonaparte as cutting up the red cap of liberty into shreds, lo
make a grand cordon of the legion of honour. How exact an
image of the nobility invented by Bonaparte, who could boast
of nothing but the favour of their master ! The French troops
can no longer be regarded but as the soldiers of an individual,
after having once been the defenders of the nation. Ah ! how
great were they then !
Bonaparte had read history in a confused way : little accus
tomed to study, he made much less use of what he had learned
from books than of what he had picked up by his. observation,
of men. There remained however in his head a certain re-

64 CONSIDERATIONS ON
spect for Attila and Charlemagne, for feudal laws and oriental
despotism, which he applied right or wrong, never making a
mistake as to what would instantaneously promote his power ;
but on other points quoting, blaming, praising, reasoning, as
chance conducted him. He would speak in this way for hours
together, with so much the more advantage, that nobody inter
rupted him, except by the involuntary applauses which always
burst forth on such occasions. It is a singular circumstance,
that, in conversation, several of Bonaparte's officers have bor
rowed from their leader this heroical bombast, which in truth
has no meaning but at the head of eight hundred thousand
men. Bonaparte, therefore, to make at once a Carlovingian and an
oriental empire, bethought himself of creating fiefs in the coun
tries conquered by him, and of investing with them his generals
or principal ministers. He fixed the rights of primogeniture,
he issued decrees concerning substitutions, he did one the ser
vice of concealing his former situation under the unknown title
of Duke of Rovigo; while, on the contrary, by taking away
from Macdonald, from Bernadotte, from Massena, the names
which they had rendered illustrious by so many noble exploits, '
he as it were defrauded renown of its rights, and remained
alone, as he desired, in possession of the military glory of
France. It was not enough to have degraded the republican party by
entirely changing its nature ; Bonaparte wished also to deprive
the royalists of that dignity which they owed to their perseve
rance and their misfortunes. He gave the greater part of the
offices of his household to nobles of the old regime : he thus
flattered the new race by mingling them with the old, and, as
he himself united the vanity of an upstart to the gigantic talents
of a conqueror, he loved the flattery of the courtiers of the for
mer reign because they were more skilful in that art than the
new men, whatever might be the eagerness of the latter to dis
tinguish themselves in the same career. As often as a gentle
man of the old court called back to recollection the etiquette of
the days that were gone, and proposed an additional bow, a

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 73
spect due to nations, to substitute mercantile and commercial
interests, on which men may speak without end, reason without
limits, and never attain the object. The motto of the unfortu
nate periods of the French revolution, Liberty and Equality,
gave the people an impulse which could not be agreeable to
Bonaparte : but the motto of his banner — The Liberty of the
Seas — conducted him wherever he wished, and made the voyage
to the Indies as necessary as the most reasonable peace, if such
a peace should be suddenly for his advantage. Lastly, he had
in these rallying words the singular advantage of animating the
mind without directing it against power. M. de Gentz and
M.. A. W. de Schlegel, in their writings upon the continental
system, have treated completely of the advantages and disad
vantages of the maritime ascendency of England, when Europe
is in its ordinary situation. But it is at least certain, that this
ascendency, a few years ago, was the only balance to the domi
nion of Bonaparte, and that there would not have remained per
haps a single corner ofthe earth in which a sufferer could have
escaped from his tyranny, if the English ocean had not encir
cled the Continent with its protecting arm.
But, it will be said, though we admire the English, yet France
must always be the rival of their power ; and at all times her
leaders have endeavoured to combat them. There is only one
way of equalling England ; and that is by imitating her. If
Bonaparte, instead of planning that ridiculous farce of an inva-
sion; which has only served as a subject for English caricatures,
and that continental blockade, a measure more serious, but
likewise more mischievous; if Bonaparte had wished only to
become superior to England in her constitution and her indus
try, France would now be in possession of a commerce founded
upon credit, and ofa credit founded upon a national representa
tion, and upon the stability which such a representation gives.
But the English ministry is unluckily too well aware, that a
constitutional monarchy is the sole means of securing durable
prosperity to France. When Louis XIV. struggled success
fully at sea against the English fleets, the financial riches of the
two countries were then nearly the same ; but since liberty has
vol. ii. 10

74 considerations on
been consolidated in England for eighty or a hundred years,
France cannot bring herself into equilibrium with her rival, ex
cept by legal securities of the same nature. Instead of taking
this truth for his compass, what did Bonaparte do ?
The gigantic idea of the continental blockade was like a spe
cies of European crusade against England, of which Napoleon's
sceptre was the rallying sign. But if, in the interior, the ex
clusion of English merchandise gave some encouragement to
manufacturers, the ports were deserted and commerce annihi
lated. Nothing rendered Napoleon more unpopular than that
increase in the price of sugar and coffee which affected the
daily habits of all classes. By burning in the cities which were
subject to him, from Hamburgh to Naples, the productions of
English industry, he disgusted every witness of these autos da
fe in honour of despotism. In the public square at Geneva, I
saw some poor women throw themselves on their knees before
the pile on which the merchandise was burning, with supplica
tions that they might be allowed to snatch in time from the
flames some pieces of cotton or woollen stuff to clothe their in
fants in misery. Such scenes must have occurred every where \
and though statesmen, in an ironical style, then said that they
were of no consequence, they were the living picture of a ty
rannical absurdity — the continental system. What has been the
result of the terrible anathema of Bonaparte ? The power of
England has increased in the four quarters of the globe, her in
fluence over foreign governments has been unlimited, and it
ought to be so, considering the magnitude of the evil from
which she preserved Europe. Bonaparte, whom the world
persists in calling able, has however found the awkward art of
multiplying every where the resources of his adversaries, and
in particular of so augmenting those pf England, that he has
not been able to succeed in doing her more perhaps than one
single injury, (though that one perhaps is the greatest of all,) 
the injury of increasing her military forces to such a degree,
that apprehensions might be entertained for her freedom, were
it not that confidence may be placed in her public spirit.
It cannot be denied that it is very natural for France to envy '

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 75
the prosperity of England : and this sentiment has caused her
to allow herself to be deceived with respect to Bonaparte's at
tempts to raise her industry to a level with that of her antago
nist. But is it by armed prohibitions that riches are created ?
The will of sovereigns can no longer direct the system of com
merce and industry among nations : they must be left to their
natural development, and their interests must be supported ac
cording to their own wishes. As a woman does not procure
more homage to herself by being angry at that which is offered
to her rival ; so a nation can carry off the palm in commerce
and industry only by finding means of attracting voluntary tri
butes, and not by proscribing competition.
The official gazette writers were ordered to insult the Eng
lish nation and government. In the daily papers, absurd appel
lations, such as perfidious islanders, avaricious merchants, were
incessantly repeated, with occasional variations, which never
deviated too far from the text. In some writings the authors
went back as far as William the Conqueror, to characterize the
battle of Hastings as a revolt, and ignorance rendered it easy
for baseness to propagate the most pitiful calumnies. Bona
parte's journalists, to whom no one could reply, disfigured the
history, the institutions, and the character of the English. na
tion. This too is one of the scourges arising from the slavery
of the press : France has undergone them all.
As Bonaparte had more respect for himself than for those who
were under him ; he sometimes in conversation allowed himself
to say much good of England, either because he wished to pre
pare men's minds for a situation in which it would be conve
nient for him to treat with England, or rather because he wish
ed to escape for a moment from the false language which he
imposed upon his servants. It was as much as to say, Let us
mnke our people lie.

7$ CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER XIV.
On the Spirit of the French Army.
£t must not be forgotten, that the French army was admirable
during the first ten years of the war of the Revolution. The
qualities which were wanting in the men employed in the civil
career, were found in the military : — perseverance, devoted-
ness, boldness, and even goodness, when their natural disposi
tion was not altered by the impetuosity of attack. The sol
diers and officers were often beloved in foreign countries, even
where their arms had done mischief : not only did they meet
death with that inconceivable energy which will at all times be
found in their blood and their heart, but they supported the
most horrid privations with unexampled serenity. The fickle
ness of which the French are justly accused in political affairs,
becomes respectable, when it is transformed into indifference
to danger, and even indifference to pain. The French soldiers
smiled in the midst ofthe most painful situations, and encoura
ged one another in the agonies of suffering, either by a senti
ment of enthusiasm for their country, or by a witticism which
rekindled the cheerful gayety to which the very lowest classes of
society in France are always alive.
The Revolution had brought the fatal art of recruiting to
singular perfection ; but the good which it had done, by ren
dering every rank accessible to merit, excited in the French
army an unbounded emulation. It was to these principles of
freedom that Bonaparte was indebted for the resources which
he employed against liberty herself. Ere long the army under
Napoleon retained little of its popular virtues, except its admira
ble valour, and a noble sentiment of national pride : but how
much was it fallen, fighting for a single man, while its prede
cessors, while its own veterans, ten years before, had devoted
themselves only for their country. Soon too the troops of al-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 77
most every continental nation were forced to combat under the
banners of France. What patriotic sentiment could animate
the Germans, the Dutch, the Italians, when they had no secu
rity for the independence of their native land, or rather when
its subjugation bore heavily upon them ? They had no com
mon tie, except one and the same leader ; and on that account
nothing was less solid than their association ; because enthu
siasm for a man, be he who he may, is necessarily fluctuating :
the love only of our country and of freedom cannot change,
because it is disinterested in its principle. That which -con
stituted the particular fascination of Napoleon, was the idea
which was entertained of his fortune : attachment to him was
attachment to one's self. A fond belief prevailed with respect
to the various kinds of advantages to be obtained under his
banners ; and as he was both an admirable judge of military
merit, and knew how to recompense it, any private soldier in
the army might nourish the hope, of becoming a marshal of
France. Titles, births, the services of courtiers, had little in
fluence on promotion in the army. There a spirit of equality
prevailed in spite of the despotism of the government, because
Bonaparte had need of force, which cannot exist without a cer
tain degree of independence. Accordingly, under the Em
peror, that which was of most value was assuredly the army.
The commissaries, who afflicted the conquered countries with
contributions, imprisonments, and exile; those clouds of civil
agents, who came like vultures after the victory to pounce upon
the field of battle, did much more to make the French detested,
than the poor gallant conscripts who passed from childhood to
death in the belief that they were defending their country. It
belongs tor men skilled in the military art to pronounce upon
Bonaparte's talents as a captain. But to judge of him in this
respect merely by such observations as are within the reach of
every body, it appears to me that his ardent selfishness perhaps
contributed tohis early triumphs as it did to his final reverses.
In the career of arms, as well as in every other, he was desti
tute of that respect for men, and of that sentiment of duty,
without which nothing great is durable.

7S CONSIDERATIONS' ON
Bonaparte, as a general, never spared the blood of his
troops ; he gained his astonishing victories by a prodigal waste
of the soldiers which the Revolution had supplied. By march
ing without magazines, he rendered his movements uncommon
ly rapid, but he thus doubled the evils of war to the countries
which were the theatre of action. In short, even the style of
his military manoeuvres has some connexion with the rest of his
character : he always risks the whole for the whole, calculating
on the faults of his enemies, whom he despises, and ready lo
sacrifice his partisans, for whom he cares little, if he does not
by their means obtain the victory.
In the Austrian war, in 1809, he quitted the island of Lobau,
when he judged the battle to be lost, and crossed the Danube
in company only of Marshal Berthier, and M. de Czernitchef,
one of the intrepid aides de camp of the Emperor of Russia.
Bonaparte said to them with undisturbed tranquillity, that after
having gained forty battles, it was not extraordinary to lose
one. When he reached the other side of the river, fie went to
bed, and slept till the morning of the following day, without in
quiring after the fate of the French army, which his generals
saved while he slept. What a singular trait of character ! And
yet in the greater part of important occasions there is no man
more active or more bold. But it would appear that he cannot
sail except with a favourable wind, and that misfortune freezes
him completely, as if he had made a magical compact with fate,
and was unable to proceed without her.
Posterity, nay, many of our contemporaries, will object to the
adversaries of Bonaparte the enthusiasm with which he inspired
his army. We will treat this subject as impartially as possible,
when we shall have arrived at the fatal return from Elba. Who
could deny that Bonaparte was in many respects a man of
transcendent genius ? He saw as far as the knowledge of mis
chief can extend ; but there is something beyond that — the re
gion of good. Military talents are not always a proof of supe
rior intellect : in the career of war many accidents may contri
bute to success ; besides, that kind of quick survey of circum
stances which is necessary for conducting men in the field of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 79
battle, has. no resemblance to the close and accurate observa
tion which the art of government requires. One of the great
est misfortunes of the human race is the impression which the
success of force produces upon the mind. There will be nei
ther liberty nor morality in the world, if we do not bring our
selves -to consider a battle, like any other transaction in the
world, merely according to the goodness of the cause and the
utility of the result.
Bonaparte did a great mischief to France, in communicating
a taste for luxury to those warriors, who were so well satisfied
with glory in the days when the nation still existed. An intre
pid marshal, covered with wounds, and impatient for more, de
manded for his hotel a bed so covered with gilding and embroi
dery, that there was not to be found in Paris one that came up
to his wishes. Very well, said he, in his peevishness, give me
a truss of straw, I shall sleep well enough upon il. In fact, there
is no medium for these men between the pomp of the Arabian
Njghts' Entertainment, and the rigid life to which they were ac
customed. Bonaparte must likewise be accused of having altered the
French character, by forming it to the habits of dissimulation,
of which he gave the example. Many military leaders became
diplomatists in the school of Napoleon, capable of concealing
their true opinions, of studying circumstances, and of bending
to, them. Their courage remained the same: every thing else
was changed. The officers, who were most about the person
of the Empergr, far from having preserved the lively courtesy
of the French, were become cold iii their manners, circumspect,
disdainful, they gave a slight salutation with the head, spoke
little, ane} seemed to share their master's contempt for the hu
man species. Soldiers have always generous and natural emo
tions ; but the doctrine of passive obedience, which parties, op
posite in their interests, though accordant in (heir maxims, have
introduced among their chiefs, has necessarily altered all that
was great and patriotic in the troops of France.
An armed force, it is said, ought to be essentially obedient.
That is true ia the field of battle, in presence of the enemy, and

30 CONSIDERATIONS ON
in relation to military discipline. But could the French be ig
norant, or ought they to have been ignorant, that they were
sacrificing a nation in Spain ? Was it possible, or was it right for
them not to know, that at Moscow they were not defending their
homes, and that Europe was in arms, only because Bonaparte
had successively availed himself of every country in it to en
slave the whole 1 Some persons entertain a wish to make the
army a kind of corporation, separate from the nation, and in
capable of union with it. In this case the unfortunate people
would always have two enemies, their own troops and those of
foreigners, since all the virtues of citizens are forbidden to war
riors. The army of England is as submissive to discipline as that of
the most absolute stale of Europe : but the officers do not there
fore make less use of their reason, both as citizens, by taking
part when they return home in the public concerns of their
country ; and as soldiers, by knowing and respecting the em
pire of the law in what regards them. An English officer would
not arrest an individual, nor fire upon the people in commotion,
till the forms ordained by the constitution had been observed.
There is an intention of despotism, whenever there is a wish
to forbid men to use the reason which God has given them.
Obedience to their oath, it will be said, is sufficient ; but what
is there which requires the employment of reason, more than
the knowledge of the duties attached to this very oath ? Is it
to be believed, that the oath taken to Bonaparte could oblige
any officer to carry off the Due d'Enghien from the foreign land
which ought to have been an asylum to him ? Whenever max
ims opposed to liberal sentiments are established, it is for the
purpose of using them as a battery against our adversaries, but
on condition that these adversaries do not employ them in re
turn against us. It is only knowledge and justice which gives
no ground of apprehension to any party. What then is the re
sult of this emphalical maxim : The army should not judge,
but obey ? The result is, that in civil troubles the army always
determines the lot of empires, but determines ill, because it is
excluded from the use of reason. It was in consequence of

THll FRENCH REVOtUTtOSL; SI
this blind obedience to its leaders, which the French army had
been taught to esteem a duty, that it supported the government
of Bonaparte ; yet how much has it been blamed for not over
turning his power ! Civil bodies, to justify their servility to
the Emperor, laid the blame upon the army ; and it is easy to
make the partisans of absolute power, who usually are not very
strict logicians, say in the same breath, first that military men
should never have an opinion upon a political subject, and next)
that they are very blameable for having lent themselves as in
struments to the unjust wars of Bonaparte. Surely those who
shed their blood for the state have some right to know whether
it is for the state that they really do fight* Not that the army
should be the government ;-^Heaven defend us from such an
evil. But if the army ought to keep itself apart from all pub
lic affairs in all that concerns their habitual direction, the free
dom of the country is not the less under its protection ; and
when despotism endeavours to obtain the mastery, it should re
fuse to support it. What ! it will be said, would you have the
army deliberate ? If you give the name of deliberation to a
knowledge of its duty, and to the employment of its faculties in
fulfilling its obligations, I shall reply, that if you forbid it to-day
to reason against your orders, you will be dissatisfied to-mor
row that it did not reason against the orders of another.. All
the parties which require, in politics as in faitfy the renuncia
tion ofthe exercise of thought, mean only that, whatever hap
pens, we should think as they do. Yet, when soldiers are
transformed into machines, we have no right to complain if
these machines yield to force. In governing men, it is impossi
ble to succeed without the influence of opinion. The army,
like every other association, ought to know that it constitutes a
part ofa free state, and that it ought to defend the constitution
established by law for and against all. Must not the French
army bitterly repent at this day of that blind obedience to its
chief which has ruined France ? If the soldiers had not ceased
to be citizens, they would still have been the support of their
country. .
It must be allowed, however, and with sincerity, that regular
VOL. II.

82 CONSIDERATIONS ON
troops are an unhappy invention ; and if they could be sup
pressed at once throughout the whole of Europe, mankind would
have made a great step towards the perfection of social order.
Had Bonaparte stopped in his career after some of his victo
ries, his name and the reputation of the French armies produced
at that time such an effect, that he might have been satisfied
with the national guards for the defence of the Rhine and the
Alps. Every advantage in human affairs was at his disposal :
but the lesson which he was destined to give to the world was
of another nature.
At the time ofthe last invasion of France, a general of the
Allies declared, that every French private citizen would be shot
who should be found with arms in his hand : some of the French
generals had occasionally been guilty of the same injustice in
Germany : and yet the soldiers in armies of the line have much
less interest in the fate of defensive war than the inhabitants of
the country. Were it true, as this general said, that citizens
are not permitted to defend themselves against regular troops,
all the Spaniards would be guilty, and Europe would be still
subject to Bonaparte : for it must not be forgotten, that the pri
vate inhabitants of Spain were the first who commenced the
struggle ; they were the first who thought that the probability
of success was nothing, when it was a duty to resist. None of
these Spaniards, and, at a subsequent period, none of the Rus
sian peasants, formed part of the regular troops : yet this cir
cumstance only rendered them more worthy of our admiration,
for the firmness with which they fought for the independence of
their country.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 83
CHAPTER XV.
Ofthe Legislation and Administration under Bonaparte.
The unlimited despotism and the shameless corruption of the
civil government under Bonaparte has not yet been sufficiently
delineated. It might be supposed that, after the torrent of
abuse which is always poured forth in France against the van
quished, there would remain no ill to be spoken against a fall
en power, which the flatterers of the dominion that succeeded
have not exhausted. But as they who attacked Bonaparte
wished still to spare the doctrine of despotism; as many of
those who load him with reproach to-day had praised him yes
terday, they were obliged, in order to introduce some consis
tency into conduct in which nothing is systematic except base
ness, to carry their outrages even beyond what the man de
serves, and yet in many respects to observe a prudent silence
on a system which they wished still to be continued. The
greatest crime of Napoleon, however, that for which every re
flecting man, every writer qualified to be the dispenser of glory
among posterity, will never cease to accuse him before man
kind, was the mode in which he established and organized des
potism. He founded it on immorality ; for so much knowledge
was diffused through France, that absolute power, which else
where rests on ignorance, could there be maintained only by
corruption. Is it possible to speak of legislation in a country where the
will of a single man decided every thing — where this man, un
certain and fluctuating as the billows of the ocean during a tem
pest, was unable to endure the barriers of his own will, if the
regulation of the evening was opposed to the next day's desire
of change ? A counsellor of state once thought proper to re
present to him that the resolution which he was about to take
was inconsistent with the Code Napoleon. Very well, said he,

84 CONSIDERATIONS ON
the Code Napoleon was made for the welfare of the people ; and
if that welfare requires other measures, we must adopt them.
What a pretext for unlimited power is the public welfare!
Robespierre did well in giving that name to his government.
Shortly after the death of the Due d'Enghien, while Bonaparte
was still troubled at the bottom of his soul by the horror which
that assassination had excited, he said, in a conversation upon
literature with an artist very capable of forming a judgment
upon the subject : " Reason of state, do you observe, has with
the moderns supplied the place of the fatalism of the ancients.
Corneille is the only French tragic writer who has felt this
truth, Had he lived in my time, I would have made him my
prime minister."
There were two kinds of instruments of imperial power,
laws and decrees. The laws received the sanction of the sem
blance of a Legislative Body ; but the real exercise of autho
rity was to be found in the decrees which emanated directly
from the Emperor, and were discussed in his council. Napo
leon left the fine speakers of the Council of State, and the mute
deputies of the Legislative Body, to deliberate and decide on
some abstract questions in jurisprudence, with the view of giv
ing his government a false air of philosophical wisdom. But
when laws relative to the exercise of power were concerned, all
the exceptions,, as well as all the rules, were under the jurisdic
tion of the Emperor. 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?— and several improvements in the mode
of procedure, which have brought that branch of jurisprudence
out of the darkness in which it lay before the Revolution, and
in which it still lies in several states of Europe, But of what
value were legal institutions, when extraordinary tribunals
named by the Emperor, special courts, and military commis
sions, judged all political offences^-lhe very offences in which
the unchangeable aegis of the law is most required. We
shall show how the English have multiplied precautions in
political prosecutions, to protect justice more efficaciously

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 85
from the encroachments of power. What examples has not
Bonaparte's reign exhibited of those extraordinary tribunals,
which became habitual! for when one arbitrary act is per
mitted, the poison spreads itself through all the affairs of
the state. Have not rapid and dark executions polluted the
soil of France ? The military code in all countries, except Eng
land, interferes too much with the civil; but under Bonaparte
the slightest charge that could be interpreted into an interfe
rence even with the enlistment, was sufficient to bring the ac
cused before a military commission. It was thus that the Due
d'Enghien was tried. Bonaparte never once left a political
offence to the decision of a jury. General Moreau, and those
who were accused along with him, were deprived of that right ;
but they were fortunately brought before judges who respected
their conscience. These judges, however, were not able to
prevent the perpetration of iniquities in that horrible trial ;
and the torture was introduced anew in the nineteenth century
by a national chief, whose power ought to have emanated from
opinion. Under the reign of Bonaparte, it was difficult to distinguish
legislative measures from measures of administration; because
both were equally dependent on the supreme authority. On
this subject, however, we shall make one leading observation.
Whenever the improvements, of which the different branches of
the government were susceptible, in no respect struck at the
power of Bonaparte, but on the contrary promoted his plans
and his glory, he made, in order to effect them, an able use of
the immense resources which the dominion of nearly all Eu
rope gave him : and as he possessed a great talent for discover
ing, among a number of men, those who could be useful instru
ments of service to him, he- generally employed persons very
well qualified for the affairs with the care of which they were
intrusted. We owe to the imperial government the museums
ofthe arts and the embellishments of Paris, high roads, canals
which facilitate the mutual communications of the departments ;
in short, all that could strike the imagination by showing, as in
the Simplon and Mont Cenis, that nature obeyed Bonaparte

8C CONSIDERATIONS ON
with almost as much docility as men. These various prodigies
were accomplished, because he could cause to bear on any par
ticular point the taxes and the labour of eighty millions of men :
but the kings of Egypt, and the Roman emperors, had, in this
respect, equally great titles to glory. In what country did
Bonaparte take any concern about the moral development of
the people ? What means, on the contrary, did he not employ
in France to stifle the public spirit which had grown up in spite
of the bad governments to which faction had given birth ?
All the local authorities in the provinces were gradually sup
pressed or annulled ; there remains in France only one focus of
movement — Paris : andthe instruction which arises from emu
lation faded away to nothing in the provinces, while the care
lessness witb which the schools were kept up completed the
consolidation of that ignorance which agrees so well with sla
very. Yet as those who are endowed with intellect feel the ne
cessity of exerting it, all who had any talent repaired imme
diately to the capital to endeavour to obtain places. Hence pro
ceeds that rage for being employed and pensioned by the state,
which degrades and devours France. If men had any thing to
do at home ; if they could take a share in the administration of
their city or department; if they had an opportunity of making
themselves useful there, of gaining consideration, and of cheer
ing themselves with the hope of being one day elected a depu
ty ; we should not see every one hastening to Paris, who can
flatter himself with prevailing over his rivals by an intrigue or
a flattery the more.
No employment was left to the free choice of the citizens.
Bonaparte took delight in issuing decrees concerning the no
mination of door-keepers and sergeants, dated from the first
capitals in Europe. He wished to exhibit himself as present
every where, as sufficient for every thing ; in fine, as the sole
governing being upon earth. It was, however, only by the
tricks of a mountebank that a man could succeed in multiply
ing himself to such a degree ; for the substance of power al
ways falls into the hands of the subaltern agents, who exercise
the details of despotism. In a country where there is neither

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 87
any intermediate independent body, nor freedom of the press,
there is one thing which a despot, whatever be the superiority
of his genius, can never know ; and that is the truth which
would be disagreeable to him.
Commerce, credit, all that demands spontaneous activity in
the nation, and a sure defence against the caprices of govern
ment, were ill adapted to the system of Bonaparte. The con
tributions of foreign countries were its only basis. By treating
the public debt with respect, an appearance of good faith was
given to the government, at the same time that the sum was too
small to impose much restraint. But the other creditors of the
public treasury knew that their payment or nonpayment was
to be considered as a chance, on the determination of which
their right was the circumstance which had the least influence.
Accordingly nobody thought of lending to the state, however
powerful its chief might be ; and for the very reason that he
was too powerful. The revolutionary decrees, accumulated
during fifteen years of disorder, were taken or let alone accord
ing to the exigency ofthe moment. On every affair there wa,s
generally one law on this side, and another on that, which the
ministers applied according to their convenience. Sophisms,
which were a mere article of superfluity, since authority was
all powerful, justified by turns the most opposite measures.
What a shameful establishment was that of the police ! This
political inquisition has in modern times taken the place of re
ligious inquisition. Was the chief beloved who needed to weigh
down the nation with such a bondage ? He made use of some
to accuse others, and boasted of practising the ol'd maxim of
dividing in order to command, which, thanks to the progress of
human reason, is now an artifice very easily discovered. The
revenue of this police was worthy of its employment. The
gaming houses of Paris supplied the funds for its support: and
thus it hired vice with the money of the vice which paid it. It
escaped public animadversion by the mystery which enveloped
it : but when chance brought into open day a prosecution, in
which the agents ofthe police were in some way concerned, is
it possible to conceive any thing more disgusting, more per-

88 CONSIDERATIONS ON
fidious, or more mean, than the disputes which arose between
these wretches ? Sometimes they declared that they had pro
fessed one opinion, to make use secretly of the opposite ; some
times they boasted of the snares which they had prepared to
induce malecontents to conspire, with the view of betraying
them as soon as a conspiracy was formed : and yet the deposi
tions of such men. were received by the tribunals. The unfor
tunate invention of this police has since been directed against
the partisans of Bonaparte in their turn : had they not reason
to think that it was the bull of Phalaris, of which, after having
conceived the fatal idea of it, they were themselves undergoing
the punishment ?

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 89
CHAPTER XVI.
Of Literature under Bonaparte.
This very police, for which we have not terms contemptuous
enough, terms which put a sufficient distance between an honest
man and the creature who could enter into such a den, was in
trusted by Bonaparte with the charge of directing the public
mind in France. In fact, when there is no freedom of the
press, and when the censorial power of the police does not con
fine itself to the imposition of a restraint, but dictates to a whole
people the opinions which they are to entertain on politics, on
religion, on morals, on books, and on individuals, into what a
state must a nation fall which has no other nourishment for its re
flections than that which despotic authority permits or prepares ? ,
We have therefore no reason to be surprised at the degrada
tion of literature and literary criticism in France. There is
certainly nowhere more talent or more quickness in attaining
proficiency, than among the French. We may see what as
tonishing progress they are constantly making in the sciences
and in erudition, because those two paths have no connexion
with politics ; whilst literature can now produce nothing great
without liberty. The master-pieces of the age of Louis XIV.
will be adduced in opposition to us.: but the slavery of the
press was much less severe under that sovereign, than under
Bonaparte. Towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Fene
lon and other reflecting men, were already engaged in the dis
cussion of questions essential to the interests of society. Poeti
cal genius in every country exhausts itself periodically, and re
vives only at certain intervals. But the art of prose composir
tion, which is inseparable from thought, embraces necessarily
the whole philosophical sphere of ideas ; and when men of let
ters are doomed to wheel about in madrigals and idyls, the diz
ziness of flattery soon seizes them ; and they can produce no-
VOL. II. 12

90 CONSIDERATIONS ON
thing that will pass beyond the suburbs of the capital and the
bqundaries ofthe present time.
The task imposed on writers under Bonaparte was singularly.
difficult. They were to combat with fury the liberal principles
of the Revolution, but were to respect all the interests which
depended on it : so that liberty was annihilated, while the titles,
estates, and offices of the revolutionists were sacred. Bona
parte one day said, speaking of J. J. Rousseau. He was the
cause ofthe Revolution. For my part, I have no reason to cow
plain of him ; for it was in the Revolution that I caught the
throne. Such was the language which was to serve as a text
for writers to sap incessantly constitutional laws, and the ever
lasting rights on which they are founded, and yet exalt the des
potic conqueror who had been produced by the storms of the
Revolution, and had afterwards hushed them into a-calm. When
religion was concerned, Bonaparte seriously declared in his
proclamations, that France should distrust the English, because
they were heretics ; but when he wished to justify the persecu
tions which had been endured by the most venerable and the
most moderate of the heads of the church, Pope Pius VII. he
accused him of fanaticism. The watchword was, to denounce
as a partisan of anarchy whoever published any kind of philoso
phical opinion ; but if a noble seemed to insinuate that the an
cient princes were more skilful than the new in the dignity of
courts, he was without fail marked out as a conspirator. In
fine, it was necessary to reject all that was valuable in every
system of opinions, to make up the worst of human plagues,
tyranny in a civilized country.
Some writers have endeavoured to frame an abstract theory
of despotism, in order, if I may say so, to whitewash it anew,
and so give it an air of philosophical nevelty. Others, on be
half of the upstart men, have plunged into Machiavelism, as if
depth were to be found there ; and have held up the power of
the creatures ofthe Revolution in the light of a sufficient secu
rity against the return of the old government, as if there were
only interests in the world, and the career of the human species
had no connexion with virtue. All that remains of these leger-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1H
demain exhibitions is a certain combination of phrases, unsup
ported by any substantial idea, and yet duly constructed ac
cording to the rules of grammar, with verbs, nominatives, and
accusatives. The paper is the only sufferer, said a man of wit.
Doubtless it is the only sufferer : men retain no remembrance
of sophisms ; and fortunately for the dignity of literature, no
monument of this noble art can be raised on false bases. The
accents of truth are essential to eloquence, just principles to
reasoning, courage of soul to the impetuous excursions of ge
nius ; and nothing of this is to be found in writers who follow
the direction of force, from whatever point of the compass it
may blow.
The journals were filled with addresses to the Emperor; with
the excursions of the Emperor, with those of the princes and
princesses, with ceremonies and presentations at court. These
journals, faithful to the spirit of servitude, contrived to be insi
pid at the very moment of the subversion of the world ; and
had it not been for the official bulletins, which came from time
to time to inform us that the half of Europe was conquered, we
might have believed that we were living under arbours of flow
ers, and that we Bad nothing better to do than to count the steps
of their Imperial Majesties and Highnesses, and to repeat the
gracious words which they had condescended to let fall upon
the head of their prostrate subjects. Was it thus that men of
letters, and magistrates capable of thought, should have con
ducted themselves in the presence of posterity ?
Some persons, however, tried to print books1 under the cen
sorship of the police ; what was the consequence ? a persecu- ¦?'
tion like that which forced me to fly by Moscow to seek an asy
lum in England. The bookseller Palm was shot in Germany
for having refused to name the author of a pamphlet which he
had printed. And, if more numerous examples of proscriptions
cannot be quoted, the reason is, that despotism was exerted so
strongly, that at last all submitted to it, as to those terrible
laws of nature, disease and death. It was not merely the end
less rigours to which you were exposed under so persevering a
tyranny ; but you could enjoy no literary glory in your own

92 CONSIDERATIONS ON
country, when journals, as numerous as under a free govern
ment, and yet all following abjectly the same language, teazed
you with the witticisms which were prescribed to them. For
my part I have furnished the burden of the song to the French
journalists for fifteen years — the melancholy of the North, the
perfectibility ofthe human species, the muses of romance, the
muses of Germany. The yoke of authority, and the spirit of
imitation, were imposed upon literature, as the official journal
dictated the articles of faith in politics. The sagacious instinct
of despotism made the agents of the literary police feel, that
originality in the manner of writing may conduct to indepen
dence of character ; and that great care must be taken not to
suffer English and German books to be introduced into Paris,
if it is meant to check the French writers, while they observe
the rules of taste, from keeping pace with the progress of the
human mind in countries where civil troubles have not retarded
its advancement.
Finally, pf all the pains which the slavery of the press can
inflict, the bitterest is to see what you most love or most re
spect insulted in the public papers, without the possibility of
procuring the insertion of a reply in the sanfe gazettes, which
are necessarily more popular than books,. What cowardice to
attack the grave, when the friends of the deceased cannot take
up their defence ! What cowardice in the emissaries of slan
der, when backed by authority, to attack the living too, and to
serve as a vanguard to all the proscriptions, of which absolute
power, when the least suspicion is suggested to it, is so prodi
gal. What a style is that which bears the seal of the police.
When we read, by the side of this arrogance and meanness, the
discourses of Englishmen, or Americans, of public men, in short
who, in addressing pther men, seek only to impress upon them
their sincere conviction, we felt ourselves moved as if the voice
of a friend had all at once reached the ear of a forsaken being
who knew not where to find a fellow creature.

THE FREN6H REVOLUTION. 93
CHAPTER XVII.
A Saying of Bonaparte printed in the Moniteur.
It was not enough that every act of Bonaparte should bear the
stamp of a despotism becoming always more audacious ; it was
further necessary that he himself, from contempt of mankind,
should reveal the secret of his own government. In the Moni
teur of the month of July, 1810, he caused these words to be
inserted, addressed to his brother Louis Bonaparte's second
son, who was then destined to be Grand Duke of Berg. Never
forget, says he, in whatever situation my politics and the interest
of my empire may place you,' that your first duties are to me, your
second to France ; and that all your other duties, even your duties
towards the people whom I may have- intrusted to your care, come
only afterwards. This is no libel, it is not the opinion of a fac
tion : it is the man himself, it is Bonaparte in person, who
brings against himself a severer accusation than posterity would
ever have dared to do. Louis XIV. was accused of having
said in private, / am the state; and enlightened historians have
with justice grounded themselves upon this language in con
demning his character. But if, when'that monarch placed his
grandson on the throne of Spain, he had publicly taught him
the same doctrine that Bonaparte taught his nephew, perhaps
even Bossuet would not have dared to prefer the interests of
kings to those of nations. He who chose thus to substitute his
gigantic self in the place of the human species was a man cho
sen by the people — a man whom the friends of freedom for an
instant mistook as the representative of their cause. Many
have said, he is the child of the Revolution; yes, without
doubt ; but a parricidal child : ought they then to acknowledge
him?

94 CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER XVIII.
On the Political Doctrine of Bonaparte.
Owe day M. Suard, who, more than any other lettered French-
roan, united the tact of literature with a knowledge ofthe great
world, was speaking boldly before Bonaparte of the picture of
the Roman emperors in Tacitus ;" Very well," said Napo
leon ; " but he ought to have told us why the Roman people
suffered, and even liked those bad emperors. It is that which
it was of importance to explain to posterity." Let it be our
endeavour not to incur, with respect to the Emperor of France
himself, the censure which he passed on the Roman historian.
The two principal causes of Napoleon's power in France
were, above all, his military glory, and the art with which he
re-established order, without attacking those selfish passions to
which the Revolution had given birth. But every thing was
not included in these two problems.
It is pretended that, in discussions in the Council of State,
Napoleon displayed a universal sagacity.' I have some doubts
of the ability ascribed to a man who is all-powerful ; we plain
people in private life earn our celebrity at a much dearer rate.
One is not, however, master of Europe during fifteen years,
without having a piercing view of men and things. But there
was in the mind of Bonaparte an incoherence, which is a mark
ed feature of those who do not range their thoughts under the
law of duty. The power of commanding had been given by
nature to Bonaparte ; but it was rather because other men did
not act upon him, than because he acted upon them, that he be
came their master. The qualities of which he was destitute
served his purpose as well- as the talents he possessed ; andthe
made himself obeyed, only by degrading those whom he sub
jected. His successes are astonishing ! his reverses more as
tonishing still. What he performed, aided by the energy of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 95
the nation, is admirable : the state of torpor in which he left it
can scarcely be conceived. The multitude of men of talents
whom he employed is extraordinary ; but the characters whom
he debased have done, more harm to the cause of liberty than
the service that could be render.ed-to it by all the powers of/
intelligence. To him, above.-all, may be applied the fine image
of despotism, in the " Spirit of Laws ;" '.' he cut up the tree by
its roots to obtain its fruit," -and perhaps he has even dried up/
the soil.
In a word, Bonaparte, the absolute master of eighty millions
of men, and meeting nowhere with opposition, knew neither^
how to found a single institution in the state, nor durable power
for himself. What then was the destructive principle which
haunted his triumphal steps ? What was it ?-— the contempt oK
mankind, and consequently of all the laws, all the studies, all!
the establishments, and all the elections of which the basis is^
respect for the human race. Bonaparte was intoxicated with
the vile draught of Machiavelism ; he resembled in many res
pects, the Italian tyrants of the fourteenth and fifteenth centu
ries ; and as he had read but little, the natural tendency of his
character was not counteracted by the effect of information.
The middle ages being the most brilliant era in the history of
the Italians, many of them have but too much respect for the
maxims of government at that period, and those maxims were
all collected by Machiavel.
Reading lately- in Italy his famous treatise of The Prince,
which, still finds believers among the -possessors of power, a
new fact and a new conjecture appeared to me worthy of notice.
In the first place, letters of Machiavel found in the manuscripts
ofthe Barberini library, and published in 1813, prove clearly
that he published his Prince in order to reconcile himself with
the Medicis. They had put him to the rack on account of his
efforts in favour of liberty ; he was ruined* in bad health, and
without resources : he-gave up his principles, but it was after
having been put to the torture : — in our days, people yield to
slighter things. - »
This treatise of The Prince, where we find unhappily that

96 CONSIDERATIONS ON
superiority of mind which Machiavel had displayed in a better
cause, was not composed, as has been believed, to render des
potism odious, by showing the frightful resources which despots
must employ to maintain their authority. This supposition is
too refined to be admitted. I am inclined to think that Ma
chiavel, detesting above every thing the yoke of foreigners in
Italy, tolerated, and even encouraged the means, whatever they
were, which the princes of the country could employ, in order
to be masters ; hoping that they would one day be powerful
enough to repulse the German and French troops. Machiavel
. analyzes the art of war in his writings like a military man ; he
reverts continually to the necessity, of a military organization
entirely national ; and if he sullied his reputation by his indul
gence for the crimes ofthe Borgias, it was perhaps because he
felt too strongly the desire of attempting every means of re
covering the independence of his country. Bonaparte did not
certainly examine the Prince of Machiavel in this point of
view ; but he sought there what still passes for profound wis
dom with vulgar minds, the art of deceiving mankind. This
policy must fall in proportion to the extension of knowledge, as
the belief in witchcraft has fallen since the true laws of natural
philosophy have been discovered.
A general principle, whatever it might be, was displeasing to
Bonaparte, as a thing foolish or hostile. He listened only to
the considerations of the moment, and examined things merely
with a view to their immediate utility ; for he would have wish
ed to stake the whole world in an annuity on his own life. He
was not sanguinary, but indifferent respecting the lives of men,
considering them but as a means of attaining his end, or as an
obstacle to be removed out of his way. He was even less iras
cible than he often seemed to be : he wished to terrify by his
words, in order to spare himself the act by the threat. Every
thing with him. was means, or end ; nothing involuntary was to
be found either in good or evil. It is pretended that he said,
M I have so many conscripts to expend by the year ;" and it is
probable that he held that language ; for Bonaparte had con-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 97
tempt enough for his hearers to delight in a kind of sincerity
which is nothing less than impudence.
He never believed in exalted sentiments, either in individuals
or in nations ; he considered the expression of these sentiments
as hypocrisy. He believed that he held the key of human na
ture by fear and by hope, skilfully presented to the selfish and
the amhitious. It must be allowed that his perseverance and
activity were never slackened in behalf of the slightest interests
of despotism ; but it was that very despotism which was destin
ed one day to; fall upon his head. An anecdote, in which I hap
pened to have some share, may give an additional idea of the
system of Bonaparte relative to the art of governing.
The Duke of Melzi, who was for some time vice-president of
the Cisalpine Republic, was one of the most distinguished cha
racters which Italy, so fertile in every production, has brought
forth,, Born of a Spanish mother, and an Italian father, he
blended the dignity of one nation with the vivacity of the other ;
and I am not sure whether even in France, a man could be
cited more remarkable for his powers of conversation, and for
the more important and essential talent of knowing and appre- •
ciating all those who acted a political part in Europe. The
First Consul was obliged to employ him, because he had the
greatest influence over his fellow citizens, and because his at
tachment to his' country was unquestioned. Bonaparte did not
like to make use of men who were disinterested, and whose prin
ciples, whatever they might be, were not to be shaken; he was
therefore continually circumventing Melzi, in order to corrupt
him* Having caused himself to be crowned King of Italy, in 1805,
Bonaparte went to the Legislative Body of Lombardy, and in
formed the Assembly that he had the intention of giving a con
siderable estate to the Duke of Melzi, as a testimony of public
gratitude towards him : this, he hoped, would render him un
popular. Being then at Milan, I saw that same eyening M. de
Melzi, who was quite in despair at the perfidious trick that Na
poleon had played him, without having given him the slightest
warning. As Bonaparte would have been irritated by a refu-
vol. n. 13

98 CONSIDERATIONS ON
sal, I advised M. de Melzi to appropriate instantly to a public
establishment the revenues with which he was thus overwhelm
ed. He followed my advice, and the next day, walking with
the Emperor, he told him that such was his intention. Bona
parte, seizing' him by the arm, exclaimed, "This, I would wa
ger, is an idea of Madame de Stael ; but take my advice, and do
not give into the romantic philanthropy of the eighteenth cen
tury ; there is only one thing to do in this world : that is to get
Continually more money, and more power; all the rest is chi
merical." Many people will Say that he was right; I think,
on the contrary, that history will show that by establishing this
doctrine, by setting men loose from the ties of honour, every
where but on the field of battle, he prepared his partisans to
abandon him, according to his own precepts, when he should
cease to be the strongest ; and indeed he may well boast of
having met with more disciples faithful to his system, than ad
herents devoted to his misfortunes* He consecrated his policy
by fatalism, the only religion suitable to this devotedness to
fortune ; and his prosperity constantly-increasing, he ended by
making himself the high priest and idol of his own adoration,
believing in himself, as if his desires were presages, and his de
signs oracles.
The duration bf the power of Bonaparte was a perpetual les-,
son of immorality. If he had always succeeded, what should
we have been able to say to our children ? There would have
been left, it is true, the solace of religious resignation ; but
the mass of the inhabitants of the world would have sought
in vain to discover the intentions of Providence in human af
fairs. Nevertheless, in 1811, the Germans still called Bonaparte
the man of fate, and the imagination even of some Englishmen
was dazzled by his 'extraordinary talents. Poland and Italy
slill hoped for independence from him, and the daughter of the
Cassars had become his consort. This signal honour caused
him a transport of joy, foreign to his nature ; and for some time
it might be believed that his illustrious partner would change
the character ofthe man with whom destiny had connected her.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 9£>
Even at this time, Bonaparte wanted but one good sentiment to
have become the greatest monarch upon earth ; either that of
paternal affection, which induces men to take care of the inheri
tance Of their children; or pity for the French who rushed, to
death for him whenever he gave the signal ; or equity towards
foreign nations who gazed at him with wonder; or, in short,
that kind of prudence natural to every man, towards the middle
of life, when he sees the approach of the vast shadows by whieh
he must soon be enveloped : one virtue, one single virtue would
have sufficed to have fixed all human prosperity on the head of
Bonaparte. But the divine spark dwelt not in his heart.
The triumph of Bonaparte in Europe, as well as in France,
was founded on a great equivocation, whieh endures with a
number of people. The nations persisted in considering him
the defender of their rights, at the very moment when he was
their greatest enemy. The strength of the French Revolution,
of which he had been the inheritor, was immense, because it was
composed ofthe will of the French, and of the secret desires of
other nations. Napoleon made use of this power against the
old governments during several years, before the people disco
vered that their interest was not his object. The same names
still subsisted : it was still France, lately the centre of. popular
principles ; and although Bonaparte destroyed republics, and
stimulated kings and princes to acts of tyranny, in opposition
even to their own natural moderation, it was yet believed that
all this would end in liberty ; and he often himself talked ofa
constitution, at 4east when speaking of the reign of his son.
The first step that Bonaparte made towards his ruin was the
enterprise on Spain ; for he there met with a national resist
ance, the only one from which no corruption or diplomatic art
could set him free. He had not suspected the danger which
awaited his army in a war of villages and mountains ; he be-.
lieved not in the power of the soul : he counted bayonets, and
there being scarcely any in Spain before the arrival of the
English troops, he had not learned to dread the only, invinci
ble power— the enthusiasm of a whole nation. The French,
said Bonaparte, are nervous machines, by which he meant to

100 Considerations on
explain that mixture of obedience and mutability, which consti
tutes their character. This reproach is perhaps well-founded ;
but amidst these defects, they have displayed an invincible per
severance during»nearly thirty years ; and it was because Bona
parte flattered their ruling passion, that he reigned. The
French long believed that the imperial government would pre
serve them from the institutions of the old regime, which to
them are peculiarly odious. They also long confounded the
cause of the Revolution with that ofa new master; many peo
ple with good intentions suffered themselves to be deluded by
this motive ; others held the same language* though they had no
longer the same opinion ; and it was long before the nation lost
its interest in Bonaparte. But from that moment forward an
abyss was hollowed under his steps.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 101
' J CHAPTER XIX.
Intoxication of Power ; Reverses and Abdication of Bonaparte.
"I am tired of this old Europe," said Napoleon, before his de
parture for Russia. He met indeed nowhere any obstacle to
his will ; and the restlessness 'of his character required a new
aliment. Perhaps also the strength and clearness of his judg
ment were impaired, when he saw men and things bending be
fore him in such a manner, that it became no longer necessary
for him to exercise his thoughts upon any of the difficulties of
life. There is in unlimited power a kind of giddiness wliich
seizes on genius as on stupidity, and overthrows them both
alike. The oriental etiquette which Bonaparte had established in ,
his court, intercepted that kind of knowledge which is acquired
amidst the easy communications of society. When there were
four hundred people in his saloon, a blind man might have
thought himself alone, so deep was the silence that prevailed.
The marshals of France, amidst the fatigues of war, at the mo
ment of the crisis of a battle, used to enter the tent of the Em
peror to ask his orders, without being allowed to sit down. His
family did not suffer less than strangers from his despotism and
his pride. Lucien preferred living a prisoner in England, to
reigning under the orders of his brother. Louis Bonaparte,
whose character is generally esteemed, was constrained by his
probity to renounce the throne of Holland ; and can it be be
lieved, that when conversing with his brother during two hours
by themselves, and that brother obliged by indisposition to lean
painfully against the wall, Napoleon never offered him a chair :
he used to continue standing himself, from the fear that any one,
should think of using the familiarity with him of sitting in his
presence. The dread which he inspired in later times was -such, that

102 CONSIDERATIONS ON
nobody dared to address him first upon any subject. Some
times he conversed with the greatest simplicity, surrounded by
his court, and in his council of state. He suffered, and even
encouraged contradiction upon administrative, or judicial af
fairs, which had no connexion with his power. It was curious
to remark how sensibly those persons were affected, whom he
had suffered for a moment to breathe freely; but when the
master re-appeared, it was in vain to ask the ministers to pre
sent a report to the Emperor against an unjust measure. Did
it relate to the victim of some error, to some individual, caught
by accident in that great net thrown over the human race — the
agents of power would object the difficulty of addressing Napo
leon, as if he had been the great Lama. Such a stupor caused
by power would have raised a smile, if the situation of men
without refuge under this despotism had not inspired the deep
est pity.
The compliments, the hymns, the adorations, without num
ber, and without measure, which filled his journals, might have
tired a man of such transcendent mind ; but the despotism of
his character was stronger than his reason. He liked true
praise less than base flattery ; because the one only showed his
merit, whilst the other attested his authority. In general he
preferred power to glory ; for the exertion of power pleased
him too much to make him think of posterity, on whom it can
not act. Bu.t one of the results of absolute power, which con
tributed the most to precipitate Bonaparte from his throne, was,
that by degrees no one dared to state to him the truth on any
subject. He ended by not knowing that it was cold at Mos
cow in November, because there could be found no one among
his courtiers who had enough of the Roman to inform him of a
thing so simple;
In 1811, Napoleon had inserted, and disavowed at the same
time, in the Moniteur, a private note, printed in the English
papers as having been addressed by his Minister of Foreign
Affairs to the Ambassador of Russia. It was there said that
Europe could enjoy no peace so long as England and its con
stitution subsisted. Whether this note was authentic or not, it

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 103
bore at least the stamp of the school of Napoleon, and certainly
expressed his ideas. An instinct which he could not account
for, taught him that, so long as a centre of justice and liberty
existed in the world, the tribunal which was to pass sentence
upon him held its permanent sittings.
Bonaparte connected perhaps with the wild idea of the war
of Russia that of the conquest of Turkey, of a return into
Egypt, and of some attempts on the English establishments in
India. Such were the gigantic plans with which he marched
for the first time to Dresden, dragging after him the armies of
all the Continent of Europe, whom he obliged to march against
the powerful nation situated, on the limit of Asia* Pretexts
were of small importance to a man who had attained such a de
gree of power : still it was necessaiy to adopt a phrase on the
expedition to Russia, which the courtier might use as the word
of command. This phrase was, that France was obliged to make
war on Russia, because that power did not maintain the Conti
nental blockade against England. Now, at this very time, Bo
naparte himself was continually granting licenses at Paris, for
exchanges with the merchants of London ; and the Emperor of
Russia might with more propriety have declared war against
him fpr violating the treaty by which they had mutually engaged
to hold no commercial intercourse with England. But who
would now take the trouble of justifying such a war 1 No one ;
not even Bonaparte ; for his respect for success is such, that
he must condemn himself for having incurred such great re
verses. Nevertheless, the feeling of admiration and terror which Bo
naparte inspired, was so great, that little doubt was enter
tained of his triumph. While he was at Dresden, in 1812, sur
rounded by all the sovereigns of Germany, at the head of an ar
my of five hundred thousand men, composed of almost all the
nations of Europe, it seemed impossible, according to human
calculation, that his expedition should fail of success, ln his
fall, indeed, the intervention of Providence has been more mani
fested to the world than in any other event; and the elements
were first employed to strike the ruler of men. At present we

104 CONSIDERATIONS on
can hardly prevent figuring to ourselves, that if Bonaparte had
succeeded in his expedition against Russia, there would not
have been a single corner of Continental ground where one
would have been sheltered fi'om his power. All the ports were
shut, and the Continent was, like the tower of Ugolino, walled
up on all sides.
Threatened with imprisonment by a prefect, extremely do
cile to power, if I showed the least intention of withdrawing for
a day from my dwelling, I escaped when Bonaparte was»just en
tering into Russia, fearing I should find no outlet in Europe if L
deferred my project any longer. I had already but two ways of
going, to England, by Constantinople or by St. Petersburg. The
war between Russia and Turkey rendered the road by the lat
ter almost impracticable ; I knew not what would become of me,
when the Emperor Alexander had the goodness to send me a
passport to Vienna. On entering his empire, acknowledged as
absolute, I felt myself free for the first time since the reign of
Bonaparte ; not only on account of the personal virtues of the
Emperor Alexander, but because Russia was the only country
which Napoleon had not compelled to feel his influence. None
of the old governments can be compared to that tyranny which
is engrafted upon a revolution ; a tyranny which had employed
even the extension of knowledge to rivet the fetters of every
species of liberty.
It is my intention at a future day to write what I observed- of
Russia ; I shall here only remark, without turning from my
subject, that it is a country little known, because almost all we
have seen of that nation is a small number of courtiers, whose
defects are always greater in proportion as the power of a mo
narch is less limited. They are distinguished, for the most
part, only by that intrepid bravery common to all classes ; but
the Russian peasantry, that numerous class ofthe nation, whose
knowledge does not extend beyond the earth they cultivate and
the heavens they contemplate, have qualities that are really ad
mirable. Their mildness, their hospitality, their natural ele
gance, are remarkable ; no danger exists in their eyes, they
think nothing impossible when their master commands. This

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. IOS
same of master, of which courtiers make an object of flattery
and policy, does not produce the same effect on a people al
most Asiatic. The monarch being at the head of public wor
ship, constitutes a part of their religion, and the peasants pros
trate themselves before the Emperor, as they salute the church
by which they pass ; no servile feeling mingles itself with these
demonstrations of their sentiments.
Thanks to the enlightened wisdom of the present sovereign,
every possible amelioration will take place gradually in Russia.
But nothing is more absurd than the observations commonly re
peated by those who dread the enlightened ideas of Alexander.
« Why," they exclaim, " does that Emperor, for whom the
friends of liberty are such enthusiasts; why does he not estab
lish at home the constitutional government which he recommends
to other nations ?" It is one of the thousand artifices of the ene
mies of human reason to endeavour to prevent what is possible
and desirable for one nation, by demanding things that are im
possible for another. There is as yet no Tiers Etat in Russia:
how, then, could a representative government be established
there ? The intermediary class between the boyards and the
people is almost entirely wanting. It would be possible to
augment the power of the great nobles, and, by so doing, de
stroy the work of Peter I. ; but that would be going back instead
of forward; for the power ofthe Emperor, however absolute, is
an amelioration in the state of society, compared to what the
Russian aristocracy formerly was. Russia, in regard to civili
zation, has only attained that period of history in which, for the
good of nations, it becomes necessary to limit the power of the
privileged class by that ofthe crown. Thirty-six religions, in
cluding those that are pagan, and thirty-six different nations,
are not collected, but scattered over an immense territory., On
one hand, the Greek creed accords with perfect toleration, and,
on the other, the vast space occupied by the population leaves
every man the freedom of living according to his habits.
There is not yet to be found, in this order of things, knowledge
that could be concentrated, or individuals who could keep in
stitutions in their regular course. The only tie which unites
VOL. H. *4

106 CONSIDERATIONS ON
nations who are almost in a pastoral state, and whose dwellings
appear like wooden tents erected in the plain, is respect for the
monarch, and national pride. Other ties will be successively
brought forth by time.
I was at Moscow exactly a month before Napoleon's army
entered its walls ; and I did not dare to remain but a very
short time, fearing its immediate approach. When walking on
the top of the Kremlin, the palaceof the ancient Czars, which com
mands the vast capital of Russia and its eighteen hundred
churches, I thought it was the lot of Bonaparte to see empires
at his feet, as Satan offered them to our Saviour. But it was
when there remained nothing more for him to conquer in Eu
rope, that Fate seized upon him, and made him fall with as
much rapidity as he had risen. Perhaps he has since learned,
that whatever may be the events in the earlier scenes, there is
a potency in virtue which always re-appears at the fifth act of
the tragedy ; as, among the ancients, the knot was severed by
a god, when the action was worthy of his intervention.
The admirable perseverance of the Emperor Alexander in
.refusing the peace which Bonaparte offered him, according to
his practice when victorious ; the energy of the Russians, who
set fire to Moscow, that the martyrdom of one holy city might
redeem the Christian world ; certainly contributed greatly to
the misfortunes of Bonaparte's troops in the retreat from Rus
sia. But it was that cold, that " cold of Hell," such as is pic
tured by Dante, that alone could annihilate the army of Xerxes.
We who have French hearts had accustomed ourselves, du
ring the fifteen years of the tyranny of Napoleon, to consider
his armies beyond the Rhine as no more belonging to France.
They no longer defended the interests of the nation, they only
served the ambition of one man ; there was nothing in that
which could awaken the love of their country ; and far from
wishing for the triumph of those troops, a great part of whom
were foreigners, their defeat might be considered as a blessing
even for France. Besides, the more we are attached to liberty
irt our own country, the more we feel that it is impossible to

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 10?
rejoice in victories the result of which must be the oppression
of other nations. But who can hear a description of the evils
which overwhelmed the French in the war of Russia, without
heart-rending sorrow ?
Incredible man ! — he had witnessed sufferings from which
thought recoils, he knew that the French grenadiers, whom Eu
rope never names but with respect, became the sport of Jews
and of some old women at Wilna, so much was their physical
strength weakened, long before they could breathe their last;
he received proofs of respect and of attachment from that ar
my, when they were perishing for him one by one ; and he re
fused, six months after, at Dresden, a peace which would leave
him master of France as far as the Rhine, and ofthe whole of
Italy. He had come rapidly to Paris, after the retreat from
Russia, to collect new forces, having, with firmness, more thea
trical than natural, crossed Germany, where he was detested,
but still feared. In his last bulletin he had given an account of
the disasters of his army, which he had rather exaggerated than
concealed. He is a man who delights so much in calling forth
strong emotions, that when he cannot conceal his losses, he ex
aggerates them in order to do always more than another. Du
ring his absence, a conspiracy was formed against him, (that Of
Mallet,) the most generous of which the history of the French
Revolution presents an example ; and which, therefore, terri
fied him more than the coalition itself. Alas ! why did not
this patriotic conspiracy succeed 1 France would have had the
glory of freeing herself, and it would not have been under the
ruins of the country that her oppressor would have been
crushed. General Mallet was a friend to liberty, and attacked Bona
parte on that ground. Bonaparte was well aware that none
was more dangerous for him ; and when he returned to Paris,
he talked of nothing but ideologic He had conceived a horror '
for this very innocent word, because it meant the theory of
thought. It was singular enough to dread nothing but what he
called the ideologists, at a moment when all Europe was armed

108 J. CONSIDERATIONS ON
against him. ff- It would have been noble if, in consequence of
this fear, he had sought, in preference to every thing, for the es
teem of philosophic minds ; but he detested every man capa
ble of an independent opinion. Even in a political point of
view, he leaned too much to the belief that men were to be go
verned only by their interest ; this old maxim, however commpn
it may be, is often false. The greater number of those on
whom Bonaparte had heaped places and wealth deserted his
cause ; but his soldiers, attached to him by his victories, did
not abandon him. He laughed at enthusiasm ; and yet it was
by enthusiasm, or at least military fanaticism, that he was sup
ported. The frenzy of battles, which has something of great
ness even in its excess, constituted the only strength of Bona
parte. Nations can never be in the wrong ; a vicious principle
never acts long on the mass: men are perverse only in
dividually. Bonaparte performed, or rather the nation performed for
him, a miracle : notwithstanding his immense losses in Russia,
a new army was created in less than three months, which was
able to march into Germany, and to gain battles anew. It was
then that the demon of pride and folly took possession of Bona
parte in such a manner, that reasoning, founded on his own in
terest, can no longer explain the motives of his conduct : it was
at Dresden that he mistook the last apparition of his tutelary.
genius. The Germans, long indignant, rose at length against the
French, who occupied their territory ; national pride, the great
strength of human nature, again displayed itself among the sons
of Germany. Bonaparte was then taught what becomes of al
lies who have been constrained by force ; and that, whatever is
not voluntary, is destroyed at the first reverse of fortune. The
sovereigns of Germany fought with the intrepidity of soldiers ;
and it seemed as if the Prussians and their warlike King were
animated by the remembrance of the personal insult offered
some years before by Bonaparte to their beautiful and virtuous
queen.

THE FRENCH REV0LUT&$5
The liberation of Germany had long beef
wishes of the Emperor of Russia. When the FrencB*w'e?e re
pulsed from his country, he devoted himself to this cause not
only as a sovereign, but as a general ; and he several times
exposed his life, not in the character of a monarch guarded by
his, courtiers, but in that of an intrepid soldier. Holland wel
comed her deliverers, and recalled that house of Orange, whose
princes are now, as heretofore, the defenders of independence,
and the magistrates of liberty. Whatever was the influence at
this period of the English victories in Spain, we shall speak
elsewhere of Lord Wellington ; for we must pause at that name ;
we cannot take an incidental notice of it.
Bonaparte returned to Paris ; and even at this moment France
might have been saved. Five members of the Legislative As
sembly, Gallois, Raynouard, Flaugergues, Maine de Biran, and
Laine, asked for peace at the peril of their lives. Each of those
persons might be designated by his particular merit ; andthe
last I have named, Laine, perpetuates every day by his conduct
and talents the remembrance of an action which alone would
suffice to honour any character. If the Senate had joined with
the five members of the Legislative Body, and the generals had
supported the Senate, France would have been the disposer of
her own fate; and whatever course she had taken, she would
have remained France. But fifteen years of tyranny subvert
every idea, and change every sentiment ; the very men who
would expose so nobly their lives in war, are not aware that the
same courage, and the same honour, command resistance in the
civil career to the enemy of all despotism.
Bonaparte answered the deputation of the Legislative Body
with a kind of concentrated fury ; he expressed himself ill, but
his pride was seen to pierce through his confused language.
He said " that France wanted him more than he wanted
France ;" forgetting that it was himself who had reduced her
to that state. He added, " that a throne was but a piece of
wood, upon which a carpet was spread, and that all depended
pn the person by whom it was occupied." In short, he. conti-

110 CONSIDERATIONS ON
nued to appear intoxicated with himself. A singular anecdote,
however, might lead us to believe that he was already struck
with that stupor which seems to have taken possession of his
character during the last crisis of his political life. A person
worthy of credit told me, that, conversing with him alone, the
day before his departure for the army, in the month of Janua
ry, 1814, when the allies had already entered France, Bona
parte confessed in this private interview that he did not possess
the means of resisting ; they discussed the question, and Bona
parte showed him, without reserve, the worst side of things ;
and, what will scarcely be believed, he fell asleep while talking
on such a subject, without any preceding fatigue that could ex
plain so singular an apathy. This did not prevent his display
ing an extreme activity in his campaign of 1814; he suffered
himself, no doubt, to be misled by a presumptuous confidence ;
and, on the other hand, physical existence, through enjoyments
and facilities of all kinds, had gained possession of this man,
formerly so intellectual. His soul seemed in some sort to have
become gross along with his body. His genius now pierced
only at intervals through that covering of egotism which a long
habit of being considered every thing had made him acquire.
He sunk under the weight of prosperity, before he was over
thrown by misfortune.
It is pretended that he would not consent to relinquish the
conquests which had been made by the Republic, and that he
could not bring himself to allow that France should be weaken
ed under his reign. If this consideration determined him to
refuse the peace that was offered to him at Chatillon, in March,
1814, it is the first time that the idea of a duty acted on his
mind ; and his perseverance on this occasion, however impru
dent, would deserve some esteem. But it rather appears, that
he relied too much on his talents, after having had some suc
cess in Champagne, and that he concealed from himself, as
might have been done by one of his flatterers, the difficulties he
had to surmount. They were so much accustomed to fear him,
that none of them durst acquaint him with the things that inte-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Ill
rested him the most. If he happened to assert that in such a
place there was a body of twenty thousand French, no one had
the courage to inform him that there were only ten thousand ; if
he observed that the Allies were only in such a number, no one
ventured to prove that this number was double. His despotism
was such, that he had reduced men to be but the echo of him
self; and his own voice, returning to him from all sides, he was
alone amidst the crowd that encircled him.
In short, he did not perceive that enthusiasm had passed from
the left bank of the Rhine to the right ; that he had no longer
to do with undecided governments, but with irritated nations ;
and that on his side, on the contrary, there was only an army,
and no longer a nation ; for in this great contest France re
mained neutral, without seeming to think that what regarded
him regarded herself. The most warlike of nations saw, al
most with indifference, the success of those very foreigners with
whom ihey had often fought so gloriously ; and the inhabitants
ofthe towns and villages gave but little aid to the French sol
diers, not being able to persuade themselves that, after twenty-
five years of victory, so strange an event as the entry of the
Allies into Paris could ever happen. It did, however, happen!
this terrible justice of destiny. The Allies were generous;
Alexander, as we shall see hereafter, displayed a constant mag
nanimity. He was the first to enter the conquered city as a
powerful protector, and as an enlightened philanthropist ; but
even in admiring him, who could be a Frenchman and not be
overwhelmed with sorrow ?
From the moment that the Allies crossed the Rhine, and pe
netrated into France, it seemed to me that the wishes of the
friends of France ought to have been completely changed. I
was then in London, and one of the English ministers asked me
what were my wishes ? I had the boldness to answer him that
I wished that Bonaparte should be victorious, and killed. I
found in Englishmen sufficient greatness of mind to have no
need of concealing this French sentiment in their presence. I
was, however, forced to hear, amidst the transports of joy with
which the city of the conquerors resounded, that Paris had fall-

112 CONSIDERATIONS ON
en into the power of the Allies. It seemed to me at that mo
ment that there was no longer a France : I thought the predic
tion of Burke accomplished, and that there where France ex
isted we should henceforth see but an abyss. The Emperor
Alexander, the Allies, and the constitutional principles adopt
ed by the wisdom of Louis XVIII. dissipated this sad fore
boding. Bonaparte then heard on all sides the truth, which had been
so long kept in captivity. It was then that ungrateful courtiers
deserved the contempt entertained by their master for the hu
man race. If the friends of liberty respect public opinion, de
sire publicity, and seek every where for the sincere and free
support of the national voice, it is because they know that only
the vilest of souls appear in the secrets and intrigues of arbi
trary power.
There was, however, something of grandeur in the farewell of
Napoleon to his soldiers and to their eagles, so long victorious ;
his last campaign had been long and skilful ; in short, the fatal
illusion which connected with him the military glory of France,
was not yet destroyed. The Congress at Paris has accordingly
to reproach itself with having put him in a situation that admit
ted of his return. The representatives of Europe ought frankly
to confess this fault ; and it is unjust to make the French nation
bear the blame. It was certainly without any sinister intention
that the ministers of the foreign powers allowed to hover over
the throne of Louis XVIII. a danger which threatened, at the
same time, the whole of Europe. But why do not those who
suspended' this sword, plead guilty to the mischief which it
caused? A number of persons are firmly persuaded that Bonaparte,
had he not attempted the war of Spain or that of Russia, would
still be Emperor; and this opinion is flatttering to the partisans
of despotic power, who think that so fine a government cannot
be overturned by the nature of things, but only by accidental
causes. I have already said, what an attentive consideration
of France will confirm, that Bonaparte stood in need of war to
establish and preserve absolute power. A great nation would

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Jl£
not have borne the monotonous and degrading pressure of des
potism, if military glory bad not incessantly animated or exalt
ed the public mind. The continual promotion to various ranks,
in which every class of the nation had the means of participate
ing, rendered the conscription less painful to the peasantry.
The interest perpetually excited by victory supplied the place
of interest in other things ; ambition was the active principle of
government in its smallest ramifications ; titles, money, power)
all ^ere given by Bonaparte to the French in place of their
liberty. But, to be enabled to deal around these disastrous
indemnities, he required nothing less than Europe to devour.
If Napoleon had been what one may term a rational tyrant, he
would not have been able to struggle against the activity of the
French, which required an object. He was a man condemned
by his destiny either to the virtues of Washington or to the
conquests of Attila: but it was easier to reach the confines of
the civilized world than to stop the progress of human reason ;
and public opinion in France would soon have accomplished
what was brought about by the arms of the Allies.
From this time forward it is not he alone who will occupy the
history of which we aim at sketching a picture, and our ill-fated
France is about to appear again after fifteen years, during
which nothing was spoken of but the Emperor and his army.
What reverses we have to describe ! what evils we have to
dread ! We shall be obliged to require of Bonaparte once
more an account of France, since that country, too confiding
and too warlike, trusted her fate a second time in his hands.
In the different observations which I have made respecting"^
Bonaparte, I have abstained from his private life, with which I
am unacquainted, and which does not concern the'interests of <
France. I have not advanced a single doubtful point in re
gard to his history ; for the calumnies thrown out against him
seem to me still more vile than the adulations of which he was
the object. I flatter myself with having estimated him as all

public men oughtto be. estimated ; with reference to the effects
of tlieir conduct on the prosperity, information, and morality of
nations. The persecutions which Bonaparte made me underJ
vol. n. 15

114 CONSIDERATIONS ON
go, have not, I can faithfully declare, at all biassed my opinion :
on the other hand, I have rather felt a necessity for resisting
that kind of fascination produced on the imagination by an ex
traordinary genius and a formidable destiny. I should even
gladly have allowed myself to be led away by the satisfaction
which lofty minds find in defending an unfortunate man, and by
the pleasure of thus putting themselves more in opposition to
the writers and speakers who, so lately prostrate beforeJiim,
are now incessantly pouring abuse on him, keeping however, I
imagine, a watchful eye on the height of the rocks which im
prison him. But one cannot be silent in regard to Bonaparte
even in the day of his misfortune, because his political doctrine
still reigns in the minds both of his enemies and his partisans.
For of the whole inheritance of his dreadful power, there re
mains nothing to mankind but the baneful knowledge of a few
secrets the more in the art of tyranny.

THE, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 15

PART V.*

CHAPTER I.
Of what constitutes legitimate Royalty.
In considering royalty, as every institution ought to be consi
dered, with reference to the happiness and dignity of nations, I
shall say generally, but with due respect to exceptions, that
princes of old established families are much more likely to pro
mote the welfare of a country, than those princes who have
raised themselves to a throne. Their talents are commonly^-
less remarkable, but their disposition is more pacific ; they have
more prejudices, but less ambition ; they are less dazzled by
power, because they are told from their infancy that they were
destined to it ; and they are not in so great dread of losing it,
which renders them less uneasy and less suspicious. Their ¦
mode of living and acting is more simple, as they are under no
necessity of recurring to artificial means to strike the public,
and have nothing new to gain in point of respect : habit and
tradition serve as their guides. Add to this that outward splen
dour, a necessary attribute of royalty, seems perfectly in place
in the case of princes Whose forefathers have stood for centu-
* We think it incumbent on us to mention again that a part of the present volume
was not revised by Madame de Stael. Some of the subsequent chapters will per-
haps appear unfinished ; but we felt it a duty to publish the MS. in the state in
which we found it, without taking on us to make any addition whatever to the pro
duction of the author.
It is proper also to remark that this portion of the work was written in the early-
part of the year 1816, and that it is consequently of importance to refer to that peri
od the opinions, whether favourable or unfavourable, pronounced by the author.
(Note by ihe Editors.)

11G CONSIDERATIONS ON
ries at the same elevation of rank. When a man is suddenly
raised, the first in his family, to the highest dignity, he requires
the illusion of glory to cast into the shade the contrast between
royal pomp and his former situation of a private individual.
But the glory calculated to inspire the respect which men' will
ingly bestow on ancient pre-eminence can be acquired only by
military exploits ; and the world well knows what in civil go
vernment is almost always the conduct of great captah^ of
conquerors. Besides, hereditary success ion*in a monarchy is indispensa
ble to the tranquillity, I will even say, to the morality and im
provement of the human mind. Elective royalty offers a vast .
field to ambition ; the factions resulting from it have infallibly
the effect of corrupting the heart, and of diverting the thoughts
from every occupation which does not point to the interest of
the morrow. But the prerogatives granted to birth, whether
for founding a class of nobility or for fixing the succession to the
throne in a single family, stand in need of the confirming hand
of time; they differ in that respect from natural rights, which ,
are independent of every conventional sanction. Now, the
principle of hereditary succession is best established in old dy
nasties : but that this principle may not become contrary to
reason, and to that public welfare for the sake of which it has
been adopted, it must be indissolubly connected with the reign
of law. For were it necessary that millions should be govern
ed by one man according to his will or caprice, it would be bet
ter, in such a case, that he were a man of talent ; and talent
is more likely to be found when we have recourse to election,
than when we are regulated by the chance of birth.
In no country is hereditary succession more solidly establish
ed than in England, although that country has rejected the legi
timacy founded on divine right, to substitute for it the heredi
tary succession sanctioned by a representative government.
All sensible people are perfectly able tojinderstand how, by vir
tue of laws passed by the delegates of a people and accepted
by the King, it is the interest of nations, who also are heredita
ry and even legitimate, to acknowledge a dynasty called to the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 117
' '*$?.
throne by right of primogeniture. If, on the other hand, royal
power was founded on the doctrine that all power proceeds from
God, nothing could be more favourable to usurpation : it is not,
in general, power that is wanting to usurpers ; for the same men
who proffered incense to Bonaparte are at this day the advo
cates for divine right. All their theory consists in asserting that
strength is strength, and that they are its high priests ; we re
quire a different worship with different ministers, and it is then
ortflf that we shall believe monarchy likely to be durable.
A chsasge of dynasty, etfen when legally pronounced, has
never taken place except in countries where the overturned
government was arbitrary ; for the personal character of the
sovereign, being then decisive of the fate of the people, it be
came necessary, as we have often seen in history, to dispossess
those who were unfit to govern ; while, in our own day, the re
spectable sovereign of England was accounted the ruler for a
considerable time after his faculties were gone, because the re
sponsibility of ministers admitted of postponing the act for a re
gency. Thus, on the one hand, a representative government
inspires greater respect for the sovereign in those who are un-
willing'to transform the affairs of this world into dogmas, lest.
the name of God should be taken in vain ; while, on the other
hand, a conscientious sovereign has not to apprehend that the
welfare of the country should be wholly dependent on his indi
vidual life.
Legitimacy, such as it has been receritly proclaimed, is then
altogether inseparable from constitutional limitation. Whether
the limitation that formerly existed in France was insufficient to
oppose an effectual barrier to the encroachments of power, or
whether it was gradually infringed and obliterated, is a point of
no importance ; it ought to commence from this time forward,
even if the antiquity of its origin could not be proved.
One is ashamed to go back to the evidence of history to
prove that a thing equally absurd and unjust ought neither to
be adopted nor maintained. It has not been argued in favour
ef slavery that it has lasted four thousand years ; nor did the
state of servitude which succeeded it appear more equitable for

118 CONSIDERATIONS ON
having subsisted above ten centuries ; the slave-trade has never
been defended as an ancient institution of our fathers. The in
quisition and torture, which are of older dale, have, I confess,
been re-established in one country in Europe ; but this did not,
I imagine, take place with the approbation even of the defend
ers of all ancient usages. It would be curious to know, to
which generation among our fathers the gift of infallibility was
granted. Which is that past age which ought to serve as a
model to the present, and from which one cannot makeWe
slightest departure without falling into pernicious innovation ?
If every change, whatever be its influence on the general good
and progress of mankind, be censurable merely because it is a
change, it will not be difficult to oppose to the ancient order of
things invoked by you, another order of things still more ancient
to which it has succeeded. At that rate, the fathers of those of
your ancestors whom you wish to take as guides, and the fa
thers of those fathers, would be entitled to complain of their
sons and grandsons, as ofa turbulent youth impatient to over
throw their wise institutions. What human being, gifted with
good sense, can pretend that a change in manners and opinion
ought not to be productive of a corresponding change in our in
stitutions ? Must government then be always three hundred
years in arrear ? Or shall a new Joshua command the sun to
stand still in his course ? " No," it will be said ; " there are
things that ought to be changed, but the government ought to
be immutable." There could not be a more effectual way of
reducing revolutions to a system ; for if the government of a
country refused to participate in any degree in the progressive
advance of men and things, it will necessarily be overthrown by
them. Can men coolly discuss whether the form of the govern
ments of the present time ought to be in correspondence with
the wants of the existing generation, or of those which are no
more ? whether it is in the dark and disputed antiquity of his
tory that a statesman ought to look for his rule of conduct ; or
whether that statesman should possess the talents and firmness
of a Pitt, should know where power resides, whither opinion
tends, and where he is to fix his point of support to act on the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 119
national feeling ? For without the national wish, nothing is to
be done — with it, every thing, except that which would tend to
degrade it : bayonets are the only instruments for that disas
trous purpose.
In recurring to the history of the past, as to the law and the
prophets, the same thing that happened to the latter happens to
history : it becomes the subject of a war of endless controversy.
Shfp we at present aim at ascertaining from the documents of
the age, whether a perverse king, Philip le Bel, or a mad king,
Charles VI. had ministers, who, in their name, allowed the na
tion to be of some account ? Besides, the facts in French history,
far from supporting the doctrine which we combat, are confirm
ative of the existence of a primitive compact between the na
tion and the king, as fully as human reason demonstrates its ne
cessity. I have, I believe, proved that in Europe, as in
France, it is liberty that is ancient, and despotism that is mo
dern : also that those defenders of the rights of nations who are
stigmatized as innovators have perpetually appealed to the past.
Even were this truth not evident, the result would be only a
more pressing demand on us as a duty, to introduce the reign
of that justice which may not as yet have commenced. But the
principles of liberty are so deeply engraven on the heart' of
man, that, if the history of every government presents a picture
ofthe efforts of power to encroach, it exhibits likewise a picture
of popular struggles against these efforts.

120 CONSIDERATIONS ON

CHAPTER II.

Of the political Doctrine of some French Emigrants and their
Adherents.
The opponents of the French revolution of 1 789, whether nobi
lity, clergy, or lawyers, repeated incessantly that no change was
necessary in regard to government, because the intermediary
bodies which then existed were sufficient to prevent despotic
measures ; and they now proclaim despotic forms as a re-esta
blishment of the old government. This inconsistency in point
of principle is consistency in point of interest. So long as
the privileged classes served as a limit to the royal authority,
they were adverse to arbitrary power in the Crown ; but since
the time that the people has found means to take the place of the
privileged classes, the latter have rallied under the royal pre
rogative, and would give the character of rebellion to all con
stitutional opposition, to all political liberty.
These persons found the power of kings on divine right; an
absurd doctrine, which caused the overthrow ofthe Stuarts, and
which, even at that time, was denied by their most enlightened
adherents, from a dread that it would for ever bar their return
to England. Lord Erskine, in his admirable pleading in favour
ofthe Dean of St. Asaph, on a question relative to the liberty of
the press, begins by quoting Locke's treatise on the points of
divine right and passive obedience, in which that celebrated
philosopher positively declares, that every agent of royal autho
rity who goes beyond the latitude allowed by law, should be
considered an instrument of tyranny, and that on this account it
is lawful to shut one's door and repel him by force, as if we
were attacked by a robber or a pirate. Locke admits the objec
tion so often repeated, that a doctrine of this kind disseminated
among the people might encourage insurrection. u There ex
ists no truth," he says, " which may not lead to error, no re-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION* 121
medy which may not become a poison. There is not one of the
gifts which we hold from the bounty of Godyof which we could
make use, if the possible abuse of them were a reason for de
priving us of their use. At this rate the Gospels ought not to
have been published ; for although they are the foundation of
all the moral ties which unite men in society, yet an imperfect
knowledge, and an injudicious study of the Holy Word, has
urged many men to madness. Weapons necessary for defence
may serve for vengeance and murder. The fire that warms us
exposes us to conflagration ; the medicines which cure us may
cause our death. In short, one could not instruct men on any
point of government, one could not profit by any of the lessons
of history, if the excesses to which false reasoning may be car
ried were always to be brought forward as an argument to pre
vent freedom of thought."
The sentiments of Mr. Locke, said Lord Erskine, were pub
lished three years after the accession of King William to the
throne of England, and at a time when that monarch had raised
the author to a high rank in the state. But Bolingbroke, not,
less celebrated than Locke in the republic of letters, and in the
theatre of the world, expresses himself on this question in the
same manner. He who had exerted himself to restore James
II. to the throne, laid the greatest stress on exculpating' the Ja
cobites from what he considered a dangerous calumny — the
charge of attempting to found the claims of James II. on divine
right, and not on the English constitution. And it was from the
Continent, to which he had been banished by the House of Ha
nover, that he wrote what follows : " The duty of a people,",
says Bolingbroke, " is now so clearly established, that no man
-can be unacquainted with the circumstances in which he ought
to obey, or those in which he ought to resist. Conscience has
n<5 longer to contend with reason. We know that we ought to
defend the crown at the cost of our fortune and our life, if the
crown protects us, and does not depart from the limits assigned
by law ; but we know likewise lhat if it exceed these limits, it
is our duty to resist it."
vol. ii. '16

122 CONSIDERATIONS ON
I shall observe incidentally that this divine right, refuted so
long ago in England, is kept up in France by an equivocation.
Its advocates urge the established phrase : " by the grace of
God, king of France and Navarre." The words so often re
pealed, that our kings hold their crown from God and their
sword, were intended to free them from the extraordinary pre
tension advanced by the popes to crown and to remove sove
reigns. The emperors of Germany, who undoubtedly were
elective, assumed, in like manner, the title of " Emperor by the
grace of God." The kings of France, who, in virtue of the feu
dal system, rendered homage for this or that province, were not
less in the habit of using this form ; while princes and clerical
dignitaries,, down to the humblest members of the feudal body,
took the title of lords and prelates by the grace of God. At
this day the king of England employs the same form, which in
fact is nothing but an expression of Christian humility ; yet a
positive law in England declares guilty of high treason whoever
should support divine right. These pretended privileges of
despotism, which never can have any other support than that of
force, are like the passage in St. Paul : " Let every soul be sub
ject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but of God.'*
Bonaparte insisted greatly on the authority of this apostle; he
obliged all the clergy of France and the Low Countries to
preach on this text; and in fact one could not well refuse to
Bonaparte the title of a higher power." But what could be the
meaning of St. Paul, except that the Christians ought not to in
terfere with the political factions of his time ? Will it be alleged
that St. Paul meant to justify tyranny? Did he not himself re
sist the orders issued by Nero when he preached the Christian
faith ? And were the martyrs obedient to the prohibition of
professing their worship enjoined to them by the emperors ? St.
Peter calls government very properly a human order. There
is not a single question, either in morals or politics, in which
we are under the necessity of admitting what is called authority.
The conscience of men is to them a perpetual revelation, their
reason a succession of unalterable facts. That whiqh consti
tutes the essence of the Christian religion is the harmony of our

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 123
private feelings with the words of Jesus Christ. That which
constitutes society is the principles of justice applied in differ
ent ways, but always recognised as the basis of power and of
law. The nobility, as we have shown in the course of this work,
had passed, under Richelieu, from the condition of independent
vassals to that of courtiers. One would almost say that a change
of dress was indicative ofa change of character. Under Hen
ry IV. the French dress had in it something chivalrous ; but
the large perukes, and that sedentary and affected dress that
was worn at the court of Louis XIV. did not begin till under
Louis XIII. During the youth of Louis XIV. the impulse given
by the faction called the fronde still called forth some energy,
but in his latter years, in the regency, and during the reign of
Louis XV. can we quote a single public man who deserves a
name in history ? What court intrigues occupied the great
lords! And in what a state of ignorance and frivolity did not
the Revolution find the greatest part of them !
I- have spoken of emigration, its motives, and its conse
quences. Of the men of family who took that step, some re
mained constantly out of France, and followed the Royal Fami
ly with a commendable fidelity. The majority returned to
France under the reign of Bonaparte, and many of them be
came confirmed in his school in the doctrine of passive obedi
ence, of which they made the most scrupulous trial in Submis
sion to him whom they were bound to consider a usurper. That
the emigrants are justly irritated by the sale of their property,
I can well conceive : such a confiscation is infinitely less justifi- '
able than the highly legal disposal of the property of the church.
But must a resentment, in other respects very natural, be di
rected against all the good sense of which mankind is in posses
sion in this world ? One would say that the progress of the age,
the example of England, and even a knowledge of the actual
stale of France, are so foreign to their minds, that they would, I
believe, be tempted to strike out the word nation from their lan
guage as a revolutionary term. Would it not be better, even
as a matter of calculation, to become frankly reconciled to all

124 CONSIDERATIONS ON
the principles which accord with the dignity of man ? What
proselytes can they make with this doctrine ab irato, without
any other foundation than personal interest? They would have
an absolute king, an exclusive religion, an intolerant priesthood,
a court nobility founded on genealogy, a Tiers Etat, acquiring
from time to time distinction by lettres de noblesse, a population
immersed in ignorance and without rights, an army acting as a
mere machine, ministers without responsibility, no liberty of the
press, no juries, no civil liberty ; but they would have police
spies, and hired newspapers to extol this work of darkness.
They* call for a king of unbounded authority, that he may be
able to restore to them all the privileges that they have lost, and
which the deputies of the nation, be they who they may, would
never consent to restore. They desire that the Catholic reli
gion alone should be tolerated : some, because they flatter
themselves that thus they should recover the property of the
church; others, because they hope to find zealous auxiliaries
of despotism in some of the religious orders. The clergy of
France contended formerly against the crown, in support of the
authority of Rome ; but at present all persons of the privileged
classes are leagued together. It is the people only which has
no other support than itself. These men desire a Tiers Etat,
incapable of occupying any elevated station, that all such offices
may be reserved for the nobility. They would have the peo
ple receive no education, that they may be a flock more easily
guided. They would have an army with officers accustomed to
arrest, denounce, and put to death ; in short, more the enemies
!>'of their fellow citizens than of foreigners. For tore-establish
the old stale of things in France, without the glory that existed
on the one part, and the portion of liberty that existed on the
other ; without the habits of the past which are' broken ; and
all this in opposition to the invincible attachment to the new
order of things, — a foreign force would be necessary to keep
the nation in a state of perpetual compression.
These men are adverse to juries, because they wish for the
re-establishment of the old parliaments of the kingdom. But
besides that these parliaments were formerly unable, notwith-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 125
standing their honourable efforts, to prevent either arbitrary
condemnation, lettres de cachet, or taxes, imposed in spite of
their remonstrances, they would be in the situation of other pri
vileged persons ; they would no longer be animated by their
former spirit of resistance to the encroachments of ministers.
Reinstated against the wish of the nation, and merely by the
will of the sovereign, how could they act in opposition to kings,
who might say to them, " If we do not continue to support you,
the nation, which is no longer disposed to bear with you, will
overthrow you." Finally, to maintain a system in contradiction
to the public wish, it is necessary to have the power of arresting
any one, as well as to give ministers the means of imprisoning
without trial, and of preventing the accused from printing a sin
gle line in their defence. Society in such a state would be the
prey of a few, and the bane of the many. Henry IV. would be
as much disgusted by such a state of things as Franklin ; and
there is, in the history of France, no period so remote as to
offer any thing similar to "such barbarism. At a time when all
Europe seems to advance towards gradual improvement, ought
one to pretend to make use of the just horror inspired by a few
years of revolution to establish oppression and degradation in a
nation so lately invincible ?
Such are the principles of government disclosed in a number
of writings by emigrants and their adherents ; or rather such
are the consequences of party egotism ; for we cannot give the
name of principles to that theory which interdicts refutation,
and does not bear the light. The situation of the emigrants
dictates to them the opinions which they advance, and hence
the reason that France has always dreaded that power should
he lodged in their hands. It is not the former dynasty that in
spires any aversion to the country ; it is the party which wishes
to reign in its name. When the emigrants were recalled by Bo
naparte, he was able to restrain them; and the public did not
perceive that they had influence. But as they call themselves
exclusively the defenders of the Bourbons, there has existed
an apprehension that the gratitude of that family towards them
might lead to intrusting the military and civil authority to those

126 , CONSIDERATIONS ON
against whom the nation had contended during twenty-five
years, and whom it had always seen in the ranks of the hostile
armies. Nor is it the individuals composing the emigrant par
ty who displease those of the French, who never quitted their
country ; they have been intermingled in the camps, and even in
the court of Bonaparte. But as the political doctrine of the
emigrants is contrary to the national welfare, to the rights for
which two millions of men have perished on the field of battle,
to the rights for which (and this is still more grievous) crimes
committed in the name of liberty have recoiled on France, the
nation will never willingly bend under the yoke of emigrant
opinions ; and it is the dread of seeing itself constrained to this
which has prevented it from taking part in the recall of its an
cient princes. The constitutional charter, by giv4ng a guaran
tee to the good principles ofthe revolution, is the palladium of
the throne and of the country. *

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 127

CHAPTER III.

Ofthe Circumstances that render the Representative Government
at this lime more necessary in France than in any other Coun
try.
The resentment of those who have suffered greatly by the Re
volution, and who cannot flatter themselves with recovering
their privileges, but by intolerance in religion and despotism in
the crown, is, as has just been said, the greatest danger to which
France can be exposed. Her happiness and her glory consist
in a treaty between the two parties, taking the constitutional
charter as the basis. For besides that the prosperity of France
depends on the advantages acquired by the mass of the nation
in 1 789, I know not any thing that could be more humiliating to
the French than to be sent back to servitude like children sub
jected to chastisement.
Two great historical facts may be, in some respects, compar
ed to the restoration of the Bourbons : the return of the Stuarts
in England, and the accession of Henry IV. Let us first exa
mine the more recent of ihe two : we shall afterwards return to
the former, which concerns France more nearly.
Charles II. was recalled to England after the crimes of the
revolutionists and the despotism of Cromwell ; the reaction al
ways produced on the minds of the vulgar by crimes committed
under the pretext of a noble cause, repressed the spring of the
English people towards liberty. It was almost the entire na
tion, which, represented by its parliament, demanded the return
of Charles II. ; it was the English army that proclaimed him ;
no foreign troops interfered in this restoration : and in this re
spect Charles II. was in a much better situation than that of
the French princes. But as a parliament was already esta
blished in .England, the son of Charles I. was not called on
either to accept or to grant a new charter. The difference be-

128 CONSIDERATIONS ON
tween him and, the party who had caused the Revolution related
to quarrels of religion : the English nation desired the Refor
mation, and considered the Catholic religion as irreconcileable
with liberty. Charles II. was then obliged to call himself a
Protestant ; but as,;in the bottom of his heart, he professed ano
ther faith, he acted, during his whole reign, an artful part to
wards the public; and when his brother, who had more vio
lence of temper, permitted all the atrocities which the name pf
Jefferies recalls, the nation felt the necessity of having at its
head a prince who should be king by means of liberty, instead
of being king in despite of liberty. Some time after, an act
was passed excluding from the succession every prince who
should be a. Catholic, or who should have espoused a princess
of that religion. The principle of this act was to maintain her
reditary succession by not intrusting to chance for a sovereign,
but by formally excluding whoever should not adopt the politi
cal and religious faith of the majority of England, The oath
pronounced by William III. and subsequently by all his succes
sors, proves the contract between thenation andthe king; and
a law of England, as 1 have already mentioned, declares guilty
of high treason whoever shall support- the divine right ! that is,
the doctrine by which a king possesses a nation as a landholder
possesses a farm, the people and the cattle being placed on the
same footing, and the one having as little as the other a right
to alter their situation.
When the English welcomed back the old family with delight;
they were hopeful, that it would adopt^a new doctrine ; but the
direct inheritors of power refusing this, the friends of liberty
rallied under the'/Standard of him who submitted to the condi
tion without which there is no legitimacy. The revolution of
France, down, to the fall of Bpnaparte, is greatly similar to that
of England. Its resemblance with the war ofthe league and the
accession' of Henry IV. is less striking; but, in return, we say
it with pleasure, the spirit and character of Louis XVIII. re
calls to our minds Henry IV. much more than Charles II.
The abjuration of Henry IV. considered only iri^fpgard to its
'political influence, was an act by which he adapted* the opinion

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 12.9
of the majority of the French. The edict of Nantes may also
be compared to the declaration of the 2d of May, 1 814, by Louis
XVIII. ; that wise treaty between the two parties appeased them
during the life of Henry IV.' By citing these two eras, so dif
ferent in themselves* and on which one might long dispute, for
rights alone are inconteslible, while facts frequently give rise to
different interpretations, my aim has been only to show what his
tory and reason confirm ; that is, that after great commotions
in a state, a sovereign can resume the reins of government only
in as far as he .sincerely adopts the prevailing opinion of his
country, seeking, however, at the same time, to render the sa
crifices of the minority as little painful aS possible. A king
ought, like' Henry IV., to renounce, in some measure, even
those who have adhered to him in his adversity ; for, if Louis
XIV. was to blame in pronouncing the well known words,
" L'etat, c'est moi," " the state is myself;" a benevolent sove
reign should, on the other hand, say " Moi, c'est l'etat," " I
know no interests but those of the state."
The mass of the people has, ever since the -Revolution,
dreaded the ascendency of the old privileged orders ; besides,
as the princes had been absent for twenty-three years, they had
become unknown to the nation ; and the foreign troops, in
1814, traversed a great part of France, without hearing either
regret expressed for Bonaparte, or a decided wish for any form
of government. It was then a political combination, not a po
pular movement, that reinstated the ancient dynasty in France ;
and if the Stuarts, recalled by the nation, without foreign aid,
and supported by a nobility that had never emigrated, lost their
crown by seeking to enforce their divine right, how much more
necessary was it for the House of Bourbon to make again a com
pact with France, that they might soften the grief necessarily
Caused to a spirited people by the influence of foreigners on its
interior government. Hence the necessity of an appeal to the
nation to sanction what force had established. Such, as we
shall presently see, was the opinion of a man, the Emperor
Alexander, who, although a sovereign with unlimit|d| powers,
possesses sufficient superiority of mind and soul tpeicite jea-
vol. n. ",.- I?

130 CONSIDERATIONS ON
lousy and envy like persons in private life. Louis XVIII. by
his constitutional charter, and, above all, by the wisdom of his
[ declaration of the 2d of May, by his surprising extent of infor
mation, and his imposing grace of manner, supplied in many
respects what was wanting in point of popular inauguration on
his return. But we are still of opinion, and we shall presently
state our reasons, that Bonaparte would not within a year have
been welcomed by a considerable party, if the King's ministers
had cordially established a representative government along
with the principles of the charter in France, ajid if an interest
for constitutional liberty had supplied the place of that for mili
tary renown.

THE ERENCH REVOLUTION. 131

CHAPTER IV.
Of the Entry of the Allies into Paris, and the different Parties
which then existed in France.
The four great powers, England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia,
who formed a coalition in 1813 to repel the aggressions of Bo
naparte had never before acted in union, and no continental
state was able lo resist such a mass of force. The French na
tion might perhaps have still been capable of defending itself
before despotism had compressed all its energy; but, as the
struggle on the part of France was to be sustained only by sol
diers, army against army, the balance of numbers was entirely,
and beyond all proportion, in favour of the foreigners. The
sovereigns who led on these troops, amounting, as well regulars
as militia, to nearly eight hundred thousand men, displayed a
bravery that gives them an inextinguishable right to the affec
tion of their people ; but amidst these great personages, we
must specially mention the Emperor of Russia, who contribut
ed most eminently to the success of the coalition of 1813.
Far from thinking that the merit of the Emperor Alexander
is exaggerated by flattery, I would almost say that sufficient
justice is not done him, because, like all the friends of liberty,
he labours under the prepossession existing against the way of
thinking in what is called the good company of Europe. Peo
ple are always attributing his political views to personal calcu
lations, as if in our days disinterested sentiments could no Iong.-
er enter the human heart. Doubtless, it is of high importance
to Russia that France should not be crushed, and France can be
restored only by the aid ofa constitutional government support
ed by the assent of the nation. But, was the Emperor Alexan
der actuated by selfish thoughts when he conferred on the part
of Poland ceded to him by the last treaties those rights which
human reason at present calls for irt all directions ? Some wish

13,2 CONSIDERATIONS ON
to reproach him with the admiration which he testified during a
time for Bonaparte ; but was it not natural that great military
talents should dazzle a young sovereign of a warlike spirit?
Was it possible that he, distant as he was from France, should
penetrate, like us, through the artifices of which Bonaparte
made a frequent use, in preference even to all the other means
at his command ? When the Emperor Alexander acquired a
thorough knowledge of the enemy with whom he had lo con
tend, what resistance did he not oppose to him ? One of his cap
itals was taken : still he refused that peace which Napoleon
offered him with extreme eagerness. After the troops of Bo
naparte were driven from Russia, Alexander carried all his
force into Germany to aid in the deliverance of that country;
and when the remembrance of the French power still caused^
hesitation' in regard to the plan of campaign proper to be fol
lowed, he decided that it was indispensable to march to Paris ;
and all the successes of Europe are connected with the bold
ness of that resolution. It would be painful to me, I confess, to
render homage to this determination, had not the Emperor
Alexander in 1814 acted a generous part towards France ; and
had not he, in the advice that he gave, constantly respected the
honour and liberty of the nation. The liberal side is that which
he has supported Pn every occasion ; and if he has not made it
triumph so much as might have been wished, ought we not at
least to be surprised that such an instinct for what is noble, such
a love of what is just, should have been born in his heart, like a
flower of heaven, in the midst of so many obstacles ?
I have had the honour of conversing several times with the
Emperor Alexander at St. Petersburg and at Paris, at the time
of his reverses, as at the time of his triumph. Equally unaffect
ed, equally calm in either situation, his mind, penetrating, judi
cious and wise, has ever been consistent. His conversation is
wholly unlike what is commonly called an official conversation;
no insignificant question, no mutual embarrassment condemns
those who approach him to those Chinese phrases, if we may so
express ourselves, which are more like bows than words. The
love of humanity inspires the Emperor Alexander with the de-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 133
sire of knowing the true sentiments of others, and of treating,
with those whom he thinks worthy of the discussion, on the
great views which may be conducive to the progress of social
order. On his first entrance into Paris, he discoursed with
Frenchmen of different opinions, like a man who can venture
to enter the lists, of conversation without reserve.
In war his conduct is equally courageous and humane ; and
of all lives it is only his own that he exposes without reflection.
We are justified in expecting from him, that he will be eager
to do his country all the good which the state of its knowledge
admits. Although he keeps on foot a great armed force, we
should do wrong to consider him in Europe as an ambitious
monarch. His opinions have more sway with him than his pas
sions; and it is not, so far as I can judge, at conquest that he aims;
a representative government, religious toleration, the improve
ment of mankind by liberty and the Christian religion, are no
chimeras in his eyes. If he accomplish his designs, posterity
will award him all the honours of genius; but if the circum
stances by which he is surrounded, if the difficulty of finding in
struments to second him, do not permit of his realizing his wish
es, those who shall have known him will at least be apprized
that he had conceived the most elevated views.
It was at the time of the invasion of Russia by the, French,
that the Emperor Alexander saw the Prince Royal of Sweden,
formerly General Bernadotte, in the town of Abo, on the bor
ders of the Baltic. Bonaparte had made every effort to prevail
on that prince to join him in his attack against Russia : he had
made, him the tempting offer of Finland, so lately taken from
Sweden, and so bitterly regretted by the Swedes. Bernadotte,
from respect to Alexander, and from hatred to the tyranny
which Bonaparte exercised over France and Europe, joined
the coalition and refused the proposals of Napoleon, which
consisted principally in a permission granted to Sweden to take
or retake all that might suit her, either among her neighbours
or her allies.,;
The Emperor of Russia, in his conference with the Prince
Royal of Sweden, asked his advice as to the means that ought

134 CONSIDERATIONS ON
to be employed against the invasion of the French. Berna
dotte explained them like an able general, who had formerly
defended France against foreigners, and his confidence in the
final result of the war had considerable weight. Another cir
cumstance does great honour to the sagacity of the Crown
Prince : when news were brought to him that the French had
entered Moscow, the envoys of the different powers, who were
then in his palace at Stockholm, were thunderstruck ; he alone
declared firmly that, from the date of that event, the campaign
was lost to the conquerors ; and addressing himself to the Aus
trian envoy, at a time \yhen the troops of that power still formed
a part of the army of Napoleon : " You may," he said, " write
to your Emperor that Napoleon is lost, although the capture of
Moscow seems the greatest exploit in his military career." I
was near him when he expressed himself in this way, and did
not, I confess, put entire faith in his predictions. But his pro
found knowledge of the art of war disclosed to him an event at
that time least expected by others. In the vicissitudes of the/
ensuing year, Bernadotte rendered eminent services to the co
alition, as well by participating, with activity and intelligence,
in the war at moments of the greatest difficulty, as in keeping
up the hopes of the Allies, when, after the battles gained in
Germany by the new army raised, as if frpm the earth, by the
voice of Bonaparte, they began once more to consider the
French as invincible.
Yet Bernadotte has enemies in Europe, because he did not
enter France with his troops, at the time that the Allies, after
their triumph at Leipsic, passed the Rhine and marched on Pa
ris. It is, I believe, very easy to justify his conduct on this oc
casion. Had the interest of Sweden required the invasion of
France, it would have been incumbent on him, in making the
attack, to forget that he was a Frenchman, as he had accepted
the honour of being the head of another state ; but Sweden was
interested only in the deliverance of Germany ; to bring France
into a state of subjugation is incompatible with the security of
the northern powers. It was therefore allowable in General
Bernadotte to stop short on reaching the frontiers of his native

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 135
land ; to decline bearing arms against that country to which he
was indebted for his existence and his fame. It has been pre
tended that he was ambitious to succeed Bonaparte; noone
knows what an ardent man may imagine in respect to fame ;
but it is at least certain, that by not rejoining the Allies with
his troops, he deprived himself of every chance of success
through their means. Bernadotte therefore showed on this oc
casion only an honourable feeling, without being able to flatter
himself with deriving from it any personal advantage.
A singular anecdote relative to the Prince Royal of Sweden,
deserves to be put on record. Bonaparte, far from wishing
him to be chosen by the Swedish nation, was very dissatisfied
at it, and Bernadotte had reason to fear that he would not allow
him to quit France. In the field Bernadotte has considerable
boldness, in all that relates to politics he is prudent ; and
knowing perfectly how to feel his ground, ,he marches with
force only towards that point of which fortune orjens to him the
path. For several years back he had dexterously kept himself
ina middle state between the good and bad graces ofthe Em
peror of France; but having too much talent to be ranked
among the officers formed for blind obedience, he was always
more or less suspected by Napoleon, who did not like to find a
sabre and an independent mind in the same man. Bernadotte,
on relating to Napoleon in what manner his election had just
taken place in Sweden, looked at him with those dark and pierc
ing eyes, which give something very singular to the expression
of his features. Bonaparte walked beside him and stated objec
tions which Bernadotte refuted as tranquilly as possible, endea
vouring to conceal the keenness of his wishes : finally, after an
hour's conversation, Napoleon said suddenly to him : " Well,
let fate be fulfilled!" Bernadotte soon caught the words, but
to be the more assured "of his good fortune, he repeated them
as if he had not understood their meaning : " Let fate be ful
filled," said Napoleon-once more, and Bernadotte departed to
reign over Sweden. There are some examples of points being
gained in conversation with Bonaparte, in contradiction to his

136 CONSIDERATIONS ON
interest ; but it is one of those chances, connected with his tem
per, on which no calculation could be made.
Bonaparte's campaign against the allies in the winter of 1814
is generally admitted to have been very able ; and even those
Frenchmen whom he had proscribed for ever could not them
selves avoid wishing that he should succeed in saving the inde
pendence of their country. What a melancholy combination,
and how unexampled in history ! A despot was then defending
the cause of liberty by endeavouring to repulse the foreigners
whom his ambition had brought on the French territory ! He
did not deserve of Providence the honour of repairing the mis
chief that he had done. The French nation remained neuter in
the great struggle about to decide its fate ; that nation formerly
so animated, so vehement, was ground to dust by fifteen years \
of tyranny. Those who knew the country were well aware that
life remained at the bottom of those paralyzed minds, and union'
in the midst of the apparent diversity produced by discontent.
But one would have said that, during his reign, Bonaparte had
covered the eyes of France like those of a falcon, who is kept
hood winked, until let loose on his prey. People knew not
where to look for the cause of the country: they would no long
er hear of Bonaparte, nor of any of the governments whose
names were mentioned; The moderate conduct of the Euro
pean powers prevented them from being considered as enemies,
without its being possible, however, to welcome them as allies.
France, in this condition, underwent the yoke of foreigners, be
cause she had not redeemed herself from that of Bonaparte ;
from what evils would she not have escaped if, as in the early
days ofthe revolution, she had preserved in her heart a sacred
horror of despotism !,
Alexander entered Paris almost alone, without guards, withf-
©ut any precautions ; the people were pleased at 'this generous
confidence, the crowd pressed around his horse, and the French,
so long victorious, did not yet feel themselves humiliated in the
first moments of their defeat. .Every party hoped for a deli
verer in the Emperor of Russia, and certainly he carried that
wish in his breast. He stopped at the house of M. de Talley-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 137
rand, who having, throughout all the stages of the revolution,
preserved the reputation of a man of much talent, was capable
of giving him correct information on every pqint. But, as we
have already mentioned, M. de Talleyrand considers politics as
a manoeuvre, to be regulated by the prevailing winds, and sta
bility of opinion is by no means his characteristic. This is
called cleverness, and something of this cleverness is perhaps
necessary to veer on thus to the end of a mortal life ; but the
fate of a country should be guided by men whose principles are
invariable ; and in times of trouble, above all, that flexibility,
which seems the height of political art, plunges public affairs
into insurmountable difficulties. Be this as it may, M. de Tal
leyrand is, when he aims at pleasing, the most agreeable man
whom the old government produced ; it was chance that placed
him amidst popular dissentions : he brought to them the man
ners ofa court; and those graces, which ought to be suspected
by the spirit of democracy, have often seduced men of coarse
dispositions, who felt themselves captivated, without knowing
how. Nations which aim at liberty, should beware of choosing
such defenders ; those poor nations without armies, and without
treasure, inspire attachment only to conscientious minds.
A government proclaimed in Paris by the victorious armies
of Europe was an event of high interest to the world ; whatever
that government might be, it could not be concealed that the
circumstances which led to its establishment rendered its posi
tion very difficult : no people possessed of a spirit of pride can
bear the intervention of foreigners in its interior affairs ; in vain
will these foreigners do whatever is reasonable and wise; their
influence is sufficient to pervert even happiness itself. The
Emperor of Russia, impressed with the importance of public
opinion, did all that was in his power to leave to that opinion
as much liberty as circumstances allowed. The army was de
sirous of a regency, in the hope that, under the minority of the
son of Napoleon, the same government, and the same military
employments, would be kept up. The nation wished that which
it will always wish — the maintenance of constitutional princi-/
vol. ii. 18

138 considerations on
pies. Some individuals believed that the Duke of Orleans, a
man of talent, a sincere friend of liberty, and a soldier in the
cause of France at Jemmappes, would serve as a mediator be
tween the different interests ; but at that time he had hardly
lived in France, and his name was indicative rather of a treaty
than of a party. The impulse of the allied sovereigns was na
turally in favour of the old dynasty ; it was called for by the
clergy, the men of family, and the adherents whom they were
collecting in some departments of the South and West. But, at
the same time, the army contained scarcely any officers or sol
diers reared in obedience to princes absent for so many years.
The interests accumulated by the revolution, the suppression of
tithes and feudal rights, the sale of national lands, the extinction
of the privileges of the noblesse and clergy ; all that constitutes
the wealth and greatness of the mass of the people, rendered it
necessarily inimical to the partisans of the old government, who
came forward as the exclusive defenders of the royal family ;
and, until the constitutional charter had given proof of the mo
deration and enlightened wisdom of Louis XVIII. it was natural
that the return of the Bourbons should excite an apprehension
of all the inconveniences attendant on the restoration of the
Stuarts in England.
The Emperor Alexander estimated all those circumstances,
as would have been done by an enlightened Frenchman, and
was of opinion that a compact ought to be concluded, or rather
renewed between the nation and the king : for if in former ages
the barons assigned limits to the throne, and required of the, mo
narch the maintenance of their privileges, it was fair that France,
which now fornied only one people, should, by its representa
tives, possess those rights which the nobility enjoyed formerly,
and enjoy still in several countries of Europe. Besides, Louis
XVIII. having returned to France only by the support of fo
reigners, it was of importance to draw a veil over that morti
fying circumstance, by voluntary and mutual securities between
Frenchmen and their Tking. Policy as well as equity recom-
niended this system; and if Henry IV. after a long civil war,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 139
submitted to the necessity of adopting the creed ofthe majority
of the French, a man of so much judgment as Louis XVIII.
might well conquer such a kingdom as France, by accepting
a situation similar to that of king of England : in truth it is not
so much to be disdained.

140 considerations on

CHAPTER V.
Of the Circumstances which accompanied the first Return of the
House of Bourbon in 1814.
When the return of the Bourbons was determined on by the
allied powers, M. de Talleyrand brought forward the princi
ple of legitimacy, to serve as a rallying point to the new spirit
of party that was about to prevail in France. Doubtless, we
cannot too often repeat, that hereditary succession to the throne
is an excellent pledge for tranquillity and comfort ; but as the
Turks also enjoy this advantage, we may well conclude that cer
tain other conditions are necessary to ensure the welfare of a
state. Moreover, nothing is more distressing at a critical con
juncture than those words of command (mots d'ordre) which
prevent most men from exercising their reasoning powers. Had
the revolutionists proclaimed not mere equality, but equality in
the eye of the law, this qualification would have been sufficient
to excite some reflection in the public mind. The case would
be the same with legitimacy, if we add to it the necessity of
limiting the royal power. But either of these words, equality
or liberty, when without qualification, are only such as would
justify a sentinel who should fire on him that did not instantly
give the watch-word, on the demand " who comes here."
The senate was pointed out by M. de Talleyrand to discharge
the functions of representatives of the French nation on this
solemn occasion. Had the senate the power of assuming this
right ? and that power, which it legally had not, was it entitled
to by its past conduct ? As there was not time to convene
deputies from the departments, was it not at least necessary to
call together the legislative body ? That assembly had given
proofs of decision in the latter period of the reign of Bonaparte,
and the nomination of its members belonged somewhat more to
France herself. However, the senate pronounced the forfeiture

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 141
of the crown by that same Napoleon to whom it was indebted
for its existence. The forfeiture was grounded on principles of
liberty ; why were not these recognised before the entrance of
the allies into France ? The senators, it will be said, were then
without strength ; all power was in the hands of the army.
There are, we must admit, circumstances in which the most
courageous men have no means of coming forward with activity ;
but there are none that oblige men to do any thing contrary to
conscience. The noble minority of the senate, Cabanis, Tracy,
Lanjuinais, Boissy d'Anglas, Volney, Collaud, Chollet, &c. had
fully proved, during several years, that a passive resistance was
possible. •
Senators, among whom there were several members of the
National Convention, called for the return of the old dynasty,
and M. de Talleyrand boasted that, on this occasion, he obtain
ed the call of Vive le Roi from those who had voted the death
of Louis XVI. But what good was to be expected from this
kind of address, and would there not have been more dignity in
excluding these men from such a deliberation ? Is it necessary
to practise deceit even on the guilty ? And if they are so bent
to servitude as to bow the head to proscription, what purpose is
gained by making use of them ? Again, it was this senate which
prepared the constitution to be presented to the acceptance of
Louis XVIII. ; and in those articles so essential to the liberty
of France, M. de Talleyrand, at that time all powerful, admitted
the introduction of a most ridiculous condition, a condition cal
culated to invalidate all the others : the senators declared them
selves, and, along with them, their pensions, hereditary. That
men hated and ruined should make awkward efforts to preserve
their situation is perfectly natural : but ought M. de Talleyrand
to permit it ; and ought we not to conclude, from this apparent
negligence, that a man of his penetration was already desirous
of pleasing the non-constitutional royalists, by allowing'the pub
lic to lose the respect otherwise due to the principles advanced
in the declaration of the senate ! This was facilitating to the
king the means of disdaining that declaration, and of returning
without any kind of previous engagement.

142 considerations on
Did M. de Talleyrand at that time flatter himself that, by this
excess of complaisance, he should escape the implacable resent
ment of party spirit? Had he had during life enough of constan
cy in point of gratitude, to imagine that others would not fail to
wards him in that respect? did he hope that he alone should es
cape the shipwreck of his party, when all history informs us,
that there are political hatreds which never admit of reconcilia
tion ? Prejudiced men, whatever be the reform in question, ne
ver forgive those who have in any degree participated in new
ideas ; no penitence, no quarantine, can give them confidence in
this respect : they make use of the individuals who have abjur
ed ; but if these pretended converts would retain a remnant of
their past principles, even in small points, their fury is forth
with rekindled against them. The partisans of the old regime
consider those of a representative government, as in a state of
revolt against legitimate and absolute power. What avail then,
in the eyes of these non-constitutional royalists, the services
which the old friends of the revolution may render their cause ?
They are considered a beginning of expiation, and nothing more.
How did M. de Talleyrand not feel that, for the interest of the
king as for that of France, it was necessary that a constitutional
compact should tranquillize the public mind, consolidate the
throne, and present the French nation to the eyes of all Europe,
not as rebels who ask forgiveness, but as citizens who become
connected with their sovereign by mutual duties ?
Louis XVIII. returned without having recognised the neces
sity of such a compact ; but being personally a man of a very
enlightened mind, and whose ideas extended far beyond the
circle of courts, he supplied it, in some measure, by his declara
tion of 2nd May, dated from St. Ouen. He thus granted what
the nation wished him to accept; but this declaration, superior
to the constitutional charter in regard to the interests of liberty,
was sq^vejjj. conceived that it satisfied the public at the time.
It jus^fied the|k>pe of a happy union of legitimacy in the sove
reign and legally in the institutions. The same king might be
a Charles II. in hereditary right, and a William III. by his en
lightened views. Peace seemed concluded between the op-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 143
posing parties, the situation of courtier was left to those who
were fit for it ; the Chamber of Peers was composed of the men
whose families were rendered illustrious by history, and of the
men of merit in the present age : in short, the nation might
hope to repair her misfortunes by turning towards an emulation
in constitutional liberty that devouring activity which had con
sumed herself as well as Europe.
There were only two kinds of danger that could extinguish
these hopes : one, if the constitutional system was not followed
by an administration with energy and sincerity ; the other, if
the congress of Vienna should leave Bonaparte at the island of
Elba in presence of the French army; This was a sword sus
pended over the throne of the Bourbons.- Napoleon, by con
tending against foreigners to the last moment, had regained
somewhat in the opinion of the French, and had perhaps more
partisans at that time than during his lawless prosperity. It
was thus necessary, for the support of the restoration, that the
Bourbons, on the one hand, should triumph over the recollec
tion of victory by pledges given to liberty ; and, on the other,
that Bonaparte should not be settled within thirty leagues of his
old soldiers : no greater error could be committed with regard
to France.

144 CONSIDERATIONS ON

CHAPTER VI.
Ofthe Aspect of France and of Paris during its first Occupation
by the Allies.
It would be altogether wrong to feel surprise at the grief ex
perienced by the French on seeing their celebrated capitol oc
cupied in 1814 by foreign armies. The sovereigns, who be
came masters of it, behaved at that time with the greatest equi
ty ; but it is a cruel misfortune for a nation to have to express
even gratitude to foreigners, as it is a proof that its fate depends
on them. French armies had, it is true, entered more than once
almost all the capitals of Europe, but none of these cities were
of so great importance relatively to their respective countries
as Paris relatively to France. The monuments of the fine arts,
the recollections of men of genius, the splendour of society, all
contributed to render Paris the central point of continental
civilization. For the first time since Paris occupied such a
rank in the world, did the flag of foreigners wave on its ram
parts. The dome of the Hotel of the Invalids had been lately
decorated with standards, the trophies of forty battles, and now
the banners of France could be displayed only under the orders
of her conquerors. I have not, I believe, extenuated in this
work the picture ofthe faults which reduced the French to this
deplorable condition, but the more they suffered from them, the
more they were entitled to esteem.
The best way of judging of the sentiments that actuate large
masses is to consult one's own impressions : we are sure of
discovering the feelings of the multitude by a reference to our
own : and it is thus that men of ardent imaginations are able
to foresee the popular movements with which a nation is threat
ened. After ten years of exile, I landed at Calais, and I anticipated
great pleasure pn revisiting that beautiful Fr«>ce which I had

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 145
so much regretted: my sensations were quite different from
what I expected. The first men whom I perceived along the
shore wore the Prussian uniform ; they were the masters of the
town, and had acquired that right by conquest : but I felt as if
witnessing the re-establishment of the feudal system, such as it
is described by old historians, when the inhabitants ofthe coun
try served only to cultivate the ground of which the warriors of
Germany were about to reap the fruits. Oh France, France !
none but a foreign tyrant would haye reduced you to such a.
state ; a French sovereign,, be he who he might, would have
loved you too much ever to expose you to it.
I continued my journey, my heart always afflicted by the
same thoughts : on approaching Paris, Germans, Russians, Cos
sacks, Baskirs, presented themselves to my sight in every direc
tion : they were encamped around the church of St. Denis,
where repose the ashes ofthe kings of France. The discipline
enjpined by their leaders prevented the soldiers from, doing in
jury to any one, at least any other injury than that oppression
of soul which it was impossible to remove. At last 1 entered
that city in which had been spent the most happy and most
brilliant days of my life ; — I entered it as if I were passing
through a painful dream. Was I in Germany or in Russia 1
Had they imitated the streets and squares ofthe capital of
France, to revive the remembrance of them after it had ceased
to exist ? In short, all was trouble in my mind ; for in spite of
the bitterness of my pain, I esteemed the foreigners for having
shaken, off the yoke. I felt unqualified admiration for them at this
time ; but to see Paris occupied by them, the Tuilleries, the
Louvre guarded by troops who had come from the frontiers of
Asia, to whom our language, our history, our great men were all
less known than the meanest Khan of Tartary, — this was insup
portable grief. If such was the impression on me, who could
not have returned to France under Bonaparte's sway, what
must have been the feelings of those warriors, covered with
wounds, and so much the prouder of their military fame, as it
had for a long time constituted the only fame of France ?
A few days after my arrival I wished to go to the opera : I
vol. ii. 19

146 CONSIDERATIONS ON
had repeatedly in my exile figured to my recollection this daily
amusement of Paris as far more graceful and brilliant than all
the extraordinary entertainments of other countries. The per
formance was the ballet of Psyche, which for twenty years back
had invariably been represented, but under very different cir
cumstances. The staircase of the opera was lined with Rus
sian sentinels ; entering the house I looked around on all sides
to discover a face which I might recognise, but I perceived only
foreign uniforms ; hardly did a few Parisians of the middling
class show themselves in the pit, that they might not lose their
ancient habits ; in other respects the spectators were entirely
changed ; the performance alone remained the same. The de
corations, the music, the dancing, had lost none of their charms,
and I felt myself humiliated by seeing French elegance so la
vishly displayed before those sabres and mustachios, as if it
had been the duty of the vanquished again to contribute to the
amusement of the victors.
At the Theatre Francois the tragedies of Racine and Voltaire
were represented before foreigners more jealous of our literary
fame than eager to confess it. The elevation of sentiment ex
pressed in the tragedies of Corneille could no longer find a pe
destal in France ; it was no easy matter to avoid a blush on
hearing them pronounced. Our comedies, in which the art of
gayety is carried so far, were amusing to our conquerors when
it was no longer in our power to enjoy them, and we were al
most ashamed even of the talents of our poets when they seemed
chained like us to the chariot of the victors. No officer of the
French army, to their honour be it said, appeared at the theatre
during the occupancy of the capital by the Allies : they walked
about sorrowfully, and without uniforms, being unable to bear
their military decorations since they had been unable to defend
the sacred territory of which the charge had been intrusted to
¦ them. The irritation which they felt did not allow them to un
derstand that it was their ambitious, selfish, and rash leader, who
had brought them to the state they were in : reflection could
not accord with the passions by which they were agitated.
The situation of the King returning with foreigners amidst

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 147
$hat army which necessarily hated them, presented difficulties
without number. Individually, he did all that intelligence and
goodness can inspire to a sovereign desirous to please, but he
had to do with feelings of too strong a cast to be satisfied by the
means employed under the old government. It was the sup
port of the nation that was requisite to regain the army ; let us
examine whether the system adopted by the ministers pf Louis
XVIII. could accomplish that object.

148 CONSIDERATIONS ON

CHAPTER VII.
, Of the Constitutiomd Charter granted by the King in 1814.
I have a pride in here reminding the reader, that the declara
tion signed by Louis XVIII. at St. Ouen in 1814, contained
almost all the articles in support of liberty proposed by M.
Necker to Louis XVI. in 1 789, before the revolution of the 14th
of July burst forth.
That declaration did not bear the date of a reign of nineteen
years, in which lies the question of a divine right or a constitu
tional compact: the silence observed' in that respect was ex
tremely prudent, since it is clear that a representative govern
ment is irreconcileable with the doctrine of divine right. All
the disputes between the English and their kings have arisen
from that inconsistency. In fact, if kings are absolute masters
of the people, they ought to exact taxes instead of asking for
them ; but if they have any thing to ask from their subjects, it
necessarily follows that they have also something to promise
them. Moreover, the King of France, having in 1814 reascend-
ed the throne by the aid ofa foreign force, his ministers ought
to have suggested the idea of a contract with the nation through
the medium of its deputies; in short, the idea of anything that
could convey a guarantee, and bear evidence of the wish of
Frenchmen, even had these principles not been generally re
cognised in France. It was much to be apprehended that the
army which had taken an oath to Bonaparte, and had fought
nearly twenty years under him, should regard as null the oaths
|» required by European powers. It was thus of importance to
connect and blend the French military with the French people
by all possible forms of voluntary acquiescence.
What, it will be said, would you replunge us in the anarchy
of primary assemblies ? By no means ; that which public opi
nion called for was an abjuration of the system on which abso-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 149
lute power is founded, but the public would have aimed at no
chicanery with the ministry of Louis XVIII. in regard to the
mode of accepting the constitutional charter. All that was then
required was to consider it as a contract, not as an edict of the
King; for the edict of Nantes of Henry IV. was abolished by
Louis XIV. ; and every act which does not rest on mutual en
gagements can be revoked by the authority from which it
emanates. Instead of at least inviting the two chambers to choose the
commissioners who were to examine the act of constitution, the
ministers caused these commissioners to be named by the King.
The chambers would very probably have elected the same men ;
but it is one of the errors of the ministers of the old government
to be desirous of introducing the royal authority every where,
while one ought to make a sparing use of this authority where
ver it is not indispensably wanted. All that we can allow a
nation 'to do, without its leading to disorder, tends to extend in
formation, to fortify public spirit, and increase the harmony be
tween the government and the people.
On the 4th of June, 1814, the King came to the two chambers
to make a declaration ofthe constitutional charter. His speech
was full of dignity, talent, and propriety ; but his Chancellor
began by calling the constitutional charter a decree of reform
(«ne ordonnance de reformation.) What a fault! Did not this
imply that what was granted by the King might be withdrawn
by his successors ? Nor was this all ; in the preamble to the
charter, it was said that power in all its plenitude was vested
in the person of the King, but that its exercise had often been
modified by the monarchs who preceded Louis XVIII. such as
Louis le Gros, Philippe le Bel, Louis XI. Henry II. Charles IX.
and Louis XIV. The examples were certainly ill-chosen ; for
without dwelling on Louis XI. and Charles IX. the ordonnance
of Louis leGros, in 1127, relieved the Tiers Etat of the towns
from a state of servitude, and it is rather long since the French
nation have forgotlen this favour. As to Louis XIV. his is not
the name to be introduced when we speak of liberty.
No sooner had I heard these words, than I became apprehen-

150 CONSIDERATIONS ON
sive of the greatest future evils ; for such indiscreet pretensions
were still more calculated to expose the throne than to threaten
the rights of the nation. The latter was at that time so power
ful in its interior, that nothing was to be dreaded for her ; but
it was exactly because public opinion was all powerful, that
people could not avoid being irritated at ministers, who thus
put to hazard the protecting authority ofthe King, without hav
ing any real strength to support it. The charter was preceded
by the old form used in ordonnances, " We accord, we make
concession and grant," (Nous accordons, nous faisons conces
sion et octroi, &c.) But the mere name of charter, consecrated
by the history of England, recalls the engagements which the
Barons obliged King John to sign in favour of the nation and
themselves. Now, in what manner could the concessions of the
Crown become a fundamental law of the state, if they were no
thing more than a favour from the king ? Scarcely was the
constitutional charter read, when the Chancellor hastened to
ask the members of the two chambers to swear fidelity to it.
What would then have been said of a reclamation by a deaf
person, who should have got up to excuse himself from taking
ah oath to a constitution of which he had not heard a single
article ? Well ! this deaf party was the French people ; and it
was because its representatives had acquired the habit of being
dumb under Bonaparte that they desisted from any objection
on the occasion. The consequence was, that many of those
who, on the 4th of June, swore to obey in all respects a code of
laws which they had not even had time to understand, disen
gaged themselves but too easily ten months after from a pro
mise so lightly given.
It was curious to see assembled in the presence of the King,
the two assemblies, the Senate and the Legislative Body, who
had so long served Bonaparte. The senators and the deputies
still wore the uniform given by Napoleon ; they made their
bows turning to the rjsing instead of the setting sun ; but their
salute was as lowly as before,. The Court of the House of
Bourbon was in the galleries, holding up white handkerchiefs,
and calling Vive le Roi with all their might. The former adhe-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 151
rents of the imperial government, the senators, marshals, and
deputies, found themselves surrounded by these transports, and
they had the practice of submission to such a degree that all the
habitual smiles of their features served^, as usual, for the admi
ration of power. But ought any one, who knew the humaa
heart, to put trust in such demonstrations ? And, would it not
have been better to bring together representatives freely elect
ed by France, than men who at that time could be actuated only
by interest, and not by opinion.
Although the charter was in several respects calculated to
satisfy the public wish, it still left many things to be desired.
It was a new experiment, while the English constitution had
stood the "test of time ; and when the charter ofthe one country
is compared with the constitution ofthe other, every thing is in
favour of England, whether we look to the people, to the gran
dees, or even to the King, who, in a free country, has not ihe
power of separating himself from the general interest.
The unconstitutional part of the royalists, on whose words
we are obliged incessantly to animadvert, because it is, above
all, by words' that they act, have all along repeated that, if the
King had acted like Ferdinand VII. ; if he had re-established,
purely and simply, the old form of government, he would have
had nothing to dread from his enemies.. But the King of Spain
had the army athis disposal, while that, of Louis XVIII. was not
attached to him: the priesthood also forms an auxiliary army
to the King of Spain ; in France the ascendency of the priest
hood is at an end : in short, every thing forms a contrast in the
political and moral situation' of the two countries ; and he who
endeavours to compare them, merely indulges his fancy, without
at all considering the elements of which power and public opi
nion are composed.
But Bonaparte, it will still be said, knew how to beguile or lo
control the spirit of opposition ! Nothing would be more fatal
for any government in France, than to imitate Bonaparte. His
warlike exploits were of a nature that produced a fatal illusion
in regard' to his despotism : still Napoleon was found unable to
resist the effect of his own system, and certainly no other hand

152. CONSIDERATIONS ON
was capable of wielding that club which recoiled- even on his
head. In 1814, the French appeared less difficult to govern than at
any other period ofthe Revolution ; for they were rendered pas
sive by despotism, and they were weary of the agitation to
which the restless character of their master had doomed them.
But, far from putting trust in this deceitful torpor, it would have
been better to entreat them, if we may say so, to consent to be
free, that the nation might serve as a support to the royal authori
ty against the army. The point should have been to substitute
military enthusiasm for an interest in politics, and thus nourish
that public spirit which in France always stands in need of it.
But of all yokes it was most impracticable to re-establish the an
cient one ; and the greatest precautions should have been ta
ken to guard against whatever recalled it. There are yet but
few Frenchmen who know thoroughly vhat liberty is ; and Bo
naparte certainly did not render them nice judges of it : but all
institutions tending to injure equality produce in France the
same ferment which the reintroduction of Popery caused for
merly in England.
The dignity ofthe peerage differs as much from noblesse by ge
nealogy as a constitutional monarchy from a monarchy founded
on divine right ; but it was a great error in the charter to keep
up all titles of nobility, whether ancient or recent. After the
restoration, we met in all directions with counts and barons
created by Bonaparte, by the court, and sometimes even by
themselves ; while the peers alone ought to be considered the
dignitaries of the country ,'that the nation might be relieved from
the feudal noblesse, and an hereditary magistracy substituted for
it, which, extending only to the eldest son, would not establish
distinctions of blood and family in the country.
Does it follow from these observations that the people in
France were unhappy under the first restoration ? ' Was not jus
tice, and even the greatest kindness displayed towards every
one ? Doubtless ; and the French will long repent that they were
hot then sufficiently sensible of it. But if there are faults which
justly irritate you against those who commit them, there are

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 153
others which cause you disquietude for the fate ofa government
that you esteem ; and of this description were those committed
by the agents of the royal authority. The friends of liberty,
the most sincerely attached to the King, wished a guarantee for
the future ; and their desire in that respect was just and
reasonable.

VOL. II.

20

154 CONSIDERATIONS OS

CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Conduct of the Ministry during the first Year of the
Restoration.
Several. English writers on politics advance that history shows
the impossibility of getting a constitutional monarchy adopted
with sincerity by a race of princes who have enjoyed unlimited
authority during several centuries. The French ministry in
1814 had only one method of refuting this opinion : this was by
manifesting in every thing the superior mind of the King, tp a
degree that might convince the public that he yielded voluntari
ly to the improved information of his age ; because, if as a so
vereign he was a loser, as an enlightened man he was a gainer.
The King on his return personally produced this salutary impres
sion on those who had opportunities of conversing with him ; but
several of his ministers seemed to make a point of counteracting
this great advantage produced by the wisdom of the monarch.
A man, since raised to an eminent station, said, in an address
to the King m the name of the department of the Lower Seine,
that the Revolution had been nothing else than a twenty-five
years' rebellion. By pronouncing these words, he disqualified
himself from being useful in public affairs ; for if this revolution
be nothing else than a revolt, why consent to its operating a
change in all oar poUtical institutions, a change consecrated by
the constitutional charter ? Consistency required that this ob
jection should be answered by saying that the charter was a ne-
. cessary evil, to which people ought to submit so long as the mis
fortunes of the times required. How could such a mode of
thinking be calculated to inspire confidence ? How could it
confer any stability or any strength on an order of things no
minally established? A certain party considered the constitu
tion as a wooden dwelling,, the inconveniences of which were to

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 155
be borne with during the interval necessary to reconstruct the
true mansion, the old government. . < -,
In public the ministers spoke of the charter with the greatest
respect, particularly when they proposed measures which were
destroying it by piecemeal ; but, in private, they smiled at the
name of this charter, as if the rights of a nation were an admi
rable topic for pleasantry. What frivolity, good heavens ! and
this on the brink of an abyss ! Is there then in the habits of
courts something which perpetuates levity of mind even to ad
vanced age ? Gracefulness is often the result of this levity, but
dearly does it cost in the serious periods of history.
The first proposition submitted to the Legislative Body was
the suspension of the liberty of the press. The ministry cavil
led about the words of the charter, which were as clear as pos
sible ; and the newspapers were subjected to the censorship, or
official inspection. If it was thought that the newspapers could
not yet be left to themselves, it was at least incumbent on the
ministry, after becoming responsible for their contents, to com
mit the direction of these papers (now become Official by the
mere circumstance of thei censorship) to prudent men, who
would, in no case, permit the least insult to the French nation.
How strange that a party evidently the weaker, weak to a high
degree, as the fatal return of Bonaparte showed but too clearly \
how strange that this party should assume, towards so many
millions of men, the tone of a preacher on a fast-day ! How
strange to declare to all that they are criminal in various ways,
at various times, and that they ought, by relinquishing every
claim to liberty, to expiate the evils which they caused in their
efforts to Obtain it ! The writers of this party would, I verily
believe, have permitted for one short day a representative go
vernment, had it consisted in a few deputies, robed in white,
and coming, with halters round their necks, to ask pardon for
France. Others, with a milder tone, said, as in the time of
Bonaparte, that it was proper to preserve the interests of the
Revolution, provided its principles were annihilated. This
was saying nothing less than that thev still felt a dread of the

156 CONSIDERATIONS ON
interests, and that they hoped to weaken them by separating
them from the principles.
Is this a proper manner of treating a nation of twenty-five
millions, lately the conquerors of Europe ? Foreigners, in spite,
and perhaps even on account, of their triumph, showed much
more respect to the French nation than those newspaper wri
ters, who, in every successive government, had been the pur
veyors of sophistical arguments for the stronger party. These
newspapers, whose tone however was thought to be dictated by
ministry, attacked all individuals, dead or alive, who had been
the first to proclaim even the principles of the constitutional
charter. We were obliged to hear the venerable names which
have an altar in our hearts, constantly insulted by party writers
without having the power of replying, without being enabled
even but once to say how far these illustrious tombs were
placed above their unworthy attacks, and what champions we
have in Europe, and in posterity, for the support of our cause.
But what can be done, when all the discussions are ordered be
forehand, and when no accent of the soul can pierce through
writings devoted to the cause of meanness ? At one time they
insinuated the advantages of exile, or discussed the objections
to personal liberty. I have heard it proposed that government
should consent to the liberty of the press, on condition of being
invested with the power of arbitrary imprisonment : as if it
were possible for one to write when labouring under a threat of
being punished, without trial, for having written !
When the partisans of despotism have recourse to the bayo
net, they act consistently ; but when they employ the forms of
reasoning to establish tlieir doctrine, it is in vain that they flat
ter themselves with success in their deception. It is in vain to
deprive a nation of information and of a free press ; it becomes
the more distrustful ; and all the depths of Machiavelic policy
are but wretched child's play, when compared to the strength,
at once natural and supernatural, of complete sincerity. There
are no secrets between a government and a people : they un
derstand, they know each other. It is perfectly allowable tp
seek support in this or that party ; but to cherish the notion of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 157
introducing, by stealth, the institutions against which public
opinion is on the watch, implies a total ignorance of what the
public has become in our day.
A series of resolutions tended to re-establish all things on the
old footing ; the constitutional charter was hemmed round in
such a way as to render it eventually- so different from the origi
nal whole, as to make it fall, ina manner, of itself, stifled under
the pressure of etiquette and ordinances. At one time it was
proposed to new model the Institute, which has been the glory
of enlightened France, and to impose anew on the French
Academy the old eulogies on Cardinal de Richelieu and Louis
XIV. exacted for more than a century ; at another time decrees
were passed for oaths to be taken in the ancient form, and with
out reference to the charter ; and when this excited complaints,
the example of England was brought forward ; for that country
was introduced to sanction arty thing against liberty, but never
in favour of it. Yet it was very easy on this, as on every other
occasion, to refute the explanation given to the example of Eng
land. The king of England, swearing himself to maintain the
constitutional laws of the kingdom, the public functionaries take
the oaths to him only. But is it worth while to begin an argu
ment when the sole purpose of the adversaries is to find words
to cloak their intentions 1
The institution of nobility, as created by Bonaparte, answer
ed in truth no other purpose than to show the absurdity of that
multitude of titles "without reality, to which only puerile vanity
can attach importance. In the peerage, the eldest son inherits
the titles and rights of his father ; but the rest of the family re
turns into the class of citizens ; and, as we have frequently re
peated, they form, not a race of nobles, but an hereditary magis
tracy, on whom certain honours are conferred on account of
the public utility of the peerage, and not in consequence of in
heritance by conquest* an inheritance which constitutes feudal
nobility. The titles of noblesse, circulated in all directions by
the Chancellor of France in 1814, were necessarily injurious to
the principles of political liberty. For. what is meant by enno
bling, except declaring that the- Tiers -Etat, in other words the

158' CONSIDERATIONS ON
nation, is Hiade up of plebeians ; that it is not honourable to be
merely a citizen, and that certain meritorious individuals have
acquired a title to be raised above this state of humility. Now
these individuals were, in general, persons who were known to
be ready to sacrifice the rights of the nation to the privileges
of the noblesse, A value for privileges in those who possess
them by right of birth has at least a certain grandeur ; but what
can be more servile than those members of the Tiers Etat who
offer to serve as a footstool to those who wish to mount over
their heads ?
Letters Of noblesse take date in France from the reign of
Philip the Bold : their principal object was to confer an exemp
tion from the taxes paid exclusively by the Tiers Etat. But
the old no'bility of France never considered as their equals those
who were not noble by birth ; and in this they were right ; for
nobility loses all its empire on the imagination, whenever it
does not go back to the shades of antiquity. Thus, letters of
noblesse are equally to be rejected on the ground of aristocracy
as on that of liberty. Let us attend to what is said of them by
the Abbe de Velly, a very judicious historian, and acknowledg
ed as such, not only by public opinion, but by the royal censors
of his time.* " The most remarkable thing in letters of noblesse
is, that they require at the same time a financial supply for the
king, who must be indemnified for the portion of taxation of
which the descendants ofthe new noble are relieved, and an alms
for the people, who undergo a surcharge in consequence of this
exemption. ; It belongs to the Chamber of Accounts to decide
on both. ' The king may remit both ; but he seldom remits the
alms, as that regards the poor. This is the place for quoting
the remark of a celebrated civilian. This abolition of plebeian-
ship is, if the truth may be spoken, nothing more than an erasure of
which the mark remains ; it seems indeed rather a fiction than a
truth, the prince possessing no power, to reduce an entity to a non
entity. ¦ This is what makes us in France so anxious to conceal
the origin of our titles of nobility, in the hope of making them ap-
* Velly, vol. iii. p. 424.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 159
pear to belong to thftt earliest claps of gentility, or immemorial
rank, which alone constituted nobility informer ages."
On reading what has been published on these topics in Eu
rope since the discovery of printing, or that only which is quo
ted from ancient chronicles, we are surprised to see hpw ancient
in every country are the principles of the friends of liberty;
and in what manner just views penetrate through the supersti
tions of certain periods in the minds of those who have in any
way given publicity tp their independent reflections. We have
certainly on our side the reason of every age, and this cannqt
be denied lo form a kind of legitimacy like any other.
Religion being one ofthe grand springs of every government,
the conduct ,to be held in that respect necessarily occupied the
serious attention of ministers ; and the principle in the qharter
which it was incumbent on them to maintain with the greatest
scruple, was universal toleration. Although there still exists in
the south of France some traces of that fanaticism which so long
caused blood to be shed in these provinces, although the igno
rance pf some of the inhabitants of Jbat country is equal to their
warmth of temper, was it necessary to allow the Protestants to
be insulted in the streets by sanguinary songs, announcing the
assassinations which were subsequently committed ? Was. it not
time for the purchasers of church lands to tremble when they
saw the Protestants of the south marked out for massacre ? Did
not the peasantry, who pay neither tithe nor feudal dues, see
their cause also in that pf the Protestants ; in short, in that of
the principles of the Revolution, acknowledged by the King
himself, but constantly evaded by his ministers ? There are
complaints, and but too just complaints in France, of a want of
religion in the people ; but if the intention be to make use of the
clergy to reinstate the old form of government, we may be as
sured that the irritation thus caused will give extension to incre
dulity. What, for instance, could 'have been contemplated by substi
tuting, for the fete of Bonaparte on the 15th of August, a pro
cession to celebrate the vow of Louis XI IL which consecrates
France to the Holy Virgin ? The French nation has, it must be
admitted, a tremendous share of warlike asperity tp be made

160 CONSIDERATIONS ON
to go through so meek a ceremony. Courtiers follow this pro
cession with due devotion for the sake of places, as married
women perform pilgrimages that they may have children ; but
what good is done lo France by solemnly attempting to. re-in
troduce ancient usages which have lost their influence on the
people 1. This is accustoming them to make a mockery of re
ligion instead of reviving their former habits of veneration for
it. To attempt restoring power to fallen superstition is to imi
tate Don Pedro, of Portugal, who, when he had attained the
throne, brought from the tomb „the remains of Ines de Castro,
tp have them crowned. She was no more a queen for that.
Yet these remarks are fat from being applicable to the fune
ral ceremony in memory of Louis XVI. celebrated at St. Denis,
on the 21st of January. No one was able to witness that specta
cle without emotion. ^The whole heart shares in the sufferings of
that princess who returned to the palace, not to enjoy its splen
dour, but to honour the dead, and to seek out their bleeding
remains. This ceremony was, in the opinion of some, impoliT
tic; but it excited so much sympathy that no blame could at
tach to it.
A free admission to all public employments is one of the prin
ciples on which the French lay the greatest stress. But, al
though this principle was declared sacred by the charter, the
nominations made by ministers, particularly in the diplomatic
department, were altogether confined to the, aristocratic class.
The army saw introduced into it too many general officers who
had never made war but in a drawing room ; and even there
not always with success, ln short, there was clearly no dispo^
sition but to bestow offices on the courtiers of former days, and,
nothing was so painful to those of the Tiers Etat, who were
conscious of possessing talent, or desirous of exciting emulation
in their sons.
The finances, that department which is felt more immediately
bythe people, were in some respects managed with ability ;
but the promise given to suppress the long list of excise duties
comprised under the name of droits reunis was not performed,
and the popularity of the restoration suffered greatly by it.

TBE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 161
Finally, the duty of the ministry, above all things, was to
obtain, that the princes should exercise no interference in pub
lic business, unless in responsible employments. What would
the English nation say if the King's sons or brothers had seats
in the cabinet, voted for war or peace, in short, took a share in
public business, without being subjected to the first principle of
that government, responsibility, from which the King alone is
exempted ? The proper place for princes is the House of Peers;
it is there that they ought to take the oath to observe the con
stitutional charter; an oath which they took only when Bonaparte
was marching on Paris.. Was not this an acknowledgment that
they had till then neglected one great means of gaining" the
confidence of the people ? Constitutional liberty is, for the
princes of the House of Bourbon, the magic word which alone
can open to them the gates of the palace of their ancestors. The
art which they might employ to evade the pronunciation of it
would be very easily observed ; and this word, like the busts of
Brutus and Cassius, would excite greater attention, in proportion
as greater pains had been taken to avoid it.
There existed no common concert among ministers ; no plan
recognised by the whole : the ministry of police, an institution
detestable in itself, was apprized of nothing, and was employed
about nothing ; for if there be laws, however few, what can be
done by a minister of police ? Without having recourse to the
employment of spies, to arrests, in short to the whole abo
minable edifice of despotism founded by Bonaparte, statesmen
can be at no loss to know the direction of public opinion and the
true way to act in conformity to it. You must either command
an army that will obey you like a machine, or derive your
strength from the sentiments of the nation : the science of po
litics stands in need of an Archimedes to supply it with a point
of support.
M. de Talleyrand, who must be allowed to possess a thorough
acquaintance with the parties that have agitated France, being
at the congress of Vienna," could not influence the conduct of
government in domestic affairs. M. de Blacas, who had shown
ihe most chivalrous attachment to the king in his exile, inspired
vol. n. 21

CONSIDERATIONS ON

the courtiers with the old jealousies of the mil de bceuf, Which do
not leave a moment of repose to those who are thought to be in
favour with the monarch : and ypt M. de Blacas was, perhaps, of
all those who returned with Louis XVIII. .the most capable of
forming an estimate of the situation of France, however new it
might be to him. But what could be done by a ministry con
stitutional in appearance and counter revolutionary in reality ;
a ministry composed, in general, of men who were upright, each
in his own way, but who were governed by opposite principles,
although the first wish of each was to please at court ? Every
one said, this cannot last, although at that time the situation of
every one was easy; but the want of strength, that is of a durable
foundation, was productive of general disquietude. It was not
arbitrary strength that was desired, for that is only a convulsion
from which, sooner or later, there always results a disastrous
re-action, while a government, established on the true nature of
things, goes on in a course of progressive consolidation.
As people saw the danger without forming a clear idea ofthe
remedy, some persons adopted the unfortunate notion of pro
posing for the ministry of war Marshal Soult, who had lately
commanded with distinction the armies of Bonaparte. He had
found means to gain the heart of certain royalists by professing
the doctrine of absolute power, which he had long practised.
The adversaries of all constitutional principles feel in themselves
much more analogy to the Bonapartists, than to the friends of
liberty, because the change of the master's name is all that is
Wanted to make the two parties agreed. But the royalists did
not perceive that this name was every thing, for despotism
could not then be established with Louis XVIII. as well on
account of his personal qualities, as because the army were not
disposed to lend itself to such a purpose. The true party of
the King should have been the immense majority of the nation,
which desires a representative constitution, All connexion
^vith \he Bonapartists was then to be avoided, because they
poukl not but subvert the monarchy of the Bourbons, whether
they served them with integrity, or aimed at deceiving them.
rfhe friends of liberty, on the other hand, were the natural

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 163
allies among whom the King's party should have sought sup
port ; for, from the moment that the King granted a constitutional
charter, he could employ with advantage those only who pro
fessed its principles.
Marshal Souk asked the erection ofa monument for the emi
grants who fell at Quiberon ; he who, during twenty years, had
fought for the cause adverse to theirs : it was a disavowal of all
his past life, and still this abjuration was gratifying to a num
ber of royalists. But in what consists the strength of a general
from the moment that he loses the attachment of his fellow sol
diers ? When a man of a popular parly is obliged to sacrifice
his popularity, he is no longer of use to the new party that he
embraces. The pertinacious royalists will always inspire more
esteem than the converted Bonapartists.
The royalists thought to gain the ariny by appointing Mar
shal Souk minister at war ; they were deceived : the great error
of persons educated under the old government consists in at
taching too much importance to leaders of every description.
In our day the masses are every thing, the individuals compara
tively nothing. If the marshals lose the confidence of the army,
generals of equal ability with their superiors soon come for
ward ; if these generals are overset in their turn, soldiers will
be found capable of replacing them. The same may be said in
regard to civil administration ; it is not men but systems which
shake or consolidate power. Napoleon, I confess, forms an
exception to this truth ; but besides that his talents are extra
ordinary, he has farther studied, in the different circumstances
in which he has been placed, to lay hold ofthe opinions of the
moment, to seduce the passions of; the people at the time he
wished to enslave thejn.
Marshal Souk did not perceive that the army of Louis XVIII.
ought to be led by principles altogether different from that of
Napoleon ; the plan should have been to detach it gradually
from that eagerness for war, from that frenzy of conquest, by
means of which So much military success had been obtained,
and such cruel evils inflicted on the world. But a respect for
law, a sentiment of liberty, could alone operate this change.

'1G4 CONSIDERATIONS ON ,
Marshal Souk, on the contrary, believed that despotism was the
secret of every thing. Too many people persuade themselves
that they will be obeyed like Bonaparte, by exiling some, by
removing others from office, By stamping with the foot, by knit
ting the eyebrows, by replying haughtily to those who address
them with respect; in short, by practising all those arts of im
pertinence which men in office acquire in twenty-four hours, but
which they often repent during the whole of life.
The intentions of the Marshal failed from the numberless ob
stacles' of which he had not the slightest idea. I am persuaded,
that the suspicion of his acting a treacherous part is groundless.
Treason among the French is, in general, nothing but the result
of the momentary seduction of power ; they are scarcely ever
capable of combining it beforehand. But a Coblentz emigrant
would not have committed so many faults in regard to the
French army, if he had filled the same situation ; for he would
at .least have observed his adversaries ; while Marshal Souk
struck at his former subordinates, without suspecting that, since
the fall of Bonaparte, there was such a thing as opinion, legis
lation, or, in short, the possibility of resistance. The courtiers
were persuaded that Marshal Souk was a superior man, because
he said that one should govern with a sceptre of iron. But
where is this sceptre to be forged, when you have on your side
neither army nor people ? In vain do you dwell on the neces
sity of bringing back to obedience, of subjecting, punishing,
&c. ; none of these maxims act of themselves, and you may
pronounce them in the most energetic tone, without adding a
particle to your power. Marshal Souk had shown great abili
ty in the method of administering a conquered country ; but
France was not one, after the foreign troops were withdrawn.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 165

CHAPTER IX.
Ofthe Obstacles which Government encountered during the first
Year of the Restoration.
We proceed to state the obstacles which the ministry of the re
storation had to surmount in 1814, and we shall have no fear in
expressing our opinion on the system that ought to have been
followed to triumph over them ; the picture of this sera is cer
tainly not yet foreign to the present time.
All France had been cruelly disorganized by the reign of Bo
naparte. What forms the strongest charge against that reign is
the evident degradation of knowledge and virtue during the fif
teen years that it lasted. After Jacobinism was past, there re
mained a nation that had not participated in its crimes, and the
revolutionary tyranny might be considered a calamity of nature,
under which the people had succumbed without being debased.
The army could then boast of having fought only for the coun
try, without aspiring to wealth, to titles,, or to power. During
the four years of the rule of the Directory, a trial had beea
made of a form of government, which was connected with grand
ideas ; and if the extent of France and its habits rendered that
form of government irreconcileable with general tranquillity, at
least the publicrmind was electrified by the individual efforts
which a republic always excites. But after military despotism
and the civil tyranny founded on personal interest, of what vir
tues could we find any trace in the political parties with which
the Imperial Government had surrounded itself. The mass in
all orders of society, the military, peasants, men of family, men
in trade, still possess great and admirable qualities ; but those
who came forward on the scene of public business, presented,
with a few exceptions, a most pitiable spectacle. The day after
the fall of Bonaparte there was no activity in France but at Pa
ris, and at Paris only among a few thousand persons running

166

CONSIDERATIONS ON

after the money and offices of government, whatever that govern
ment might be.
The military were and still are the most energetic body in a
country, where, for a long time, distinction has been awarded
only to one kind of virtue — bravery. But ought those war
riors who were indebted for their fame to liberty, to carry sla
very among foreign nations ? Ought those warriors, who had
so long supported the principles of equality, on which the Re
volution is founded, to exhibit themselves, if I may so speak,
tattooed with orders, ribands, and titles, which the Princes of
Europe had given them that they might escape the tribute re
quired from them ? The majority of French generals, eager
after distinctions of nobility, bartered their fame, like savages,
fonbils of glass.
It was in vain that, after the restoration, government, while it
was far too negligent of officers of the second rank, heaped fa
vours on those of the higher class. From the time that Bona
parte's warriors wished to become courtiers, it was impossible
to satisfy their vanity in that respect; for nothing can make
new nien belong to an ancient family, whatever be the title that
is given to them. A well-powdered general of the old govern
ment excites the ridicule of those veteran mustachios which have
conquered the whole of Europe. But a chamberlain from the
family of a farmer or tradesman is hardly less ridiculous in his
way. It was therefore impossible, as we have just said, to form
a sincere alliance between the old and the new court; the old
court indeed necessarily bore an appearance of*bad faith, in en
deavouring to remove, in this respect, the quick-sighted appre
hensions ofthe great lords created by Bonaparte.
It was equally impossible to give Europe a second time to
be parcelled out among ihe military, whom Europe had at last
conquered; and yet they were persuaded that the restoration
of the old dynasty was the only cause of the treaty of peace,
which macje them lose the barrier of the Rhine and the ascen
dency in Italy.
The second hand Royalists, to borrow an English phrase,
that is, those who, after having served Bonaparte, offered to be

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 167
instrumental in introducing the same despotic principles under
the restoration ; these men, calculated only to inspire contempt,
were fit for nothing but intrigue. They were to be dreaded, it
was said, if they were left unemployed : but nothing should be
more guarded against in politics than tp employ those whom we
dread : for it is perfectly certain that they, discovering this
feeling, Will act as we act towards them, merely by the tie of
self interest, which is Broken, and rightly so, by adverse for
tune. The emigrants expected indemnities from the old dynasty for
the property which they had lost by remaining faithful to it, and
their complaints in this respect Were certainly very natural.
But they should have been relieved without invalidating, in any
manner, the sale of the national property, and made to com
prehend what the Protestants had learned under Henry IV.—
that although they had been the friends and defenders of their
king, they ought for the good of the state to consent that the
king should attach himself to the interest that was predominant
in the country over which he wished to reign. But the emi
grants never conceive that there are Frenchmen in France, and
that these Frenchmen are to be reckoned for something, nay for
a great deal.
The clergy reclaimed their former possessions, as if it were
possible to dispossess five millions of proprietors in a country,
even if their titles were not by this time consecrated by all laws
ecclesiastical and civil. Certainly France under Bonaparte has
lost almost as much in point of religion as in point of informa
tion. But is it necessary that the clergy should form a political
body in the state, and possess territorial wealth in order that the ,
French people may be brought back to more religious senti
ments ? Moreover, when the catholic clergy exercised great
power in France, it procured in the seventeenth century the
repeal of the edict of Nantes ; and this same clergy in the
eighteenth century opposed, down to the time of the Revolution,
the proposition of M. de Malesherbes to restore the Protestants
to the rights of citizens. How then could the Catholic priest
hood, if reconstituted an order of the state, admit the article of

168 CONSIDERATIONS ON
the charter which proclaims religious toleration ? In short, the
general disposition of the nation is such that a foreign force
alone could make it bear with the re-establishment ofthe church
in its previous form : such an object would require the bayonets
of Europe to remain permanently on the soil of France, and a
measure of this nature would certainly not reanimate the at
tachment of the French to their clergy.
Under the reign of Bonaparte nothing was properly carried
on but war ; every thing else was wilfully and voluntarily aban
doned. Reading is almost disused in the provincial part Of
France, and at Paris the public hardly know books but through
the newspapers ; which, such as they are, exercise a control
over thought, since it is by them only that opinions are formed.
We should blush to compare England and Germany with France
in regard to general information. Some distinguished men still
conceal our poverty from the eyes of Europe ; but the instruc
tion of the people is neglected to a degree that threatens every
sort of- government. Does it follow that public education ought
to be exclusively intrusted to the clergy ? England, the most
religious country in Europe, has never admitted such an idea.
Nor is it thought of either in the Catholic or Protestant part of
Germany. Public education is a duty of government to a
people, on which the former cannot levy the tax of this or that
religious opinion.
That which the clergy of France wishes, that which it has always
wished, is power ; in general, the demands which we hear urged
in the name of the public interest, may be resolved into the
ambition of bodies, or of individuals. If a book be published
on politics, if you have difficulty in understanding it, if it appear
ambiguous, contradictory, confused, translate it by these words,
" I wish to become a minister," and all its obscurity will be ex
plained to you. In fact, the predominant party in France is that
which calls for places ; the others are but accidental shades at
the side of this uniform colour ; the nation, however, neither is
nor can be of any account in this party.
In England, when a ministry is changed, all who occupy places
in the gift of ministers do not imagine that they can receive

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 169
places from their successors^ and yet there exists but a very
slight difference between the different parties in England. Tories
and Whigs both desire monarchy and liberty, although they
differ in the degree of their attachment to each; But in France,
people thought themselves entitled to receive appointments
from Louis XVIII. because they had held places under Bona
parte ; and a number of persons who call themselves patriots,
thought it strange that the King should not compose his counsel
of those who had sentenced his brother to death. Incredible
madness of the love of power ! The first article of the rights
of man in France is, — it is necessary that every Frenchman
should hold a public employment. .
The caste of place-hunters have no idea of living but at the
public expense ; neither industry, nor commerce, nor any thing
which proceeds from ourselves, appears to them a suitable
source of income. Bonaparte had accustomed certain men, who
called themselves the nation, to be pensioned by government ;
and the disorder which he had introduced into the affairs of
every one, as much by his gifts as by his acts of injustice, was
such that at his abdication an incalculable number. of persons,
without any independent resource, offered themselves for places
of any kind, no matter whether in the navy, the magistracy, the
civil or military departments. Dignity of character, consistency
of opinion, inflexibility of principle, all the qualities of a citi
zen, ofa man of high spirit, ofa friend of liberty, no longer ex
ist in the active candidates formed by Bonaparte. They are
intelligent, bold, decisive, dexterous in the chase, ardent in the
pursuit of prey ; but that inward conscience which renders one
incapable of deceiving, of being ungrateful, of showing servili
ty towards power, or harshness towards misfortune ; all these
virtues, which exist in our nature as well as in reflection, were
treated as chimerical or as romantic exaggeration, even by the
young men of that school. Alas ! the misfortunes of France
will give her back enthusiasm ; but at the time of the restora
tion there was scarcely any such thing as a decided wish on any
point ; and the nation was with difficulty awakened from the
vol. n. 22

170 CONSIDERATIONS ON
despotism which had given to men a movement so mechanical,
that even the vivacity of their action was no exercise of the will.
This then, the royalists will still repeat, was an admirable
opportunity for reigning by force. But, we say it once more,
the nation consented to be subservient to Bonaparte only to ob
tain through him the splendour of victory ; the dynasty of the
Bourbons could not and ought not to make war on those who
had re-established them. Were there any means of introducing
slavish obedience at home, when the army was by no means
attached to the throne, and when the population, being almost
wholly renewed since the princes of the house of Bourbon had
quitted France, princes who were known only to persons of the
age of forty and upwards ?
Such were the principal elements of the restoration. We
shall examine particularly the spirit of society at this date, and
we shall finish by a sketch of the methods which, in our opi
nion, could alone triumph over these various obstacles.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 171
CHAPTER X.
Of the Influence of Society on Political Affairs in France. ,
Amidst the difficulties which ministers had to overcome in
1814, we must place in the first rank Ihe influence which the
conversation of the saloons exercised on the fate of France.
Bonaparte had resuscitated the old habits of a court, and had
joined to them, besides, all the faults of the less refined classes.
The result was that a thirst of power, and the vanity that it in
spires, had assumed characteristics still more strong and vio
lent among the Bonap&rtists than among the emigrants. So
long as there is not liberty in a country, every one aims at get
ting favour, because the hope of place is the only vivifying prin
ciple which gives animation to society. The continual varia
tions in the mode of expressing one's self, the confused style
of political writings, where mental reservations and flexible ex
planations may be turned any way ; bows made and bows re
fused ; sallies of passion and effusions of , condescension, have
no other object than to obtain favour, further favour, and still
additional favour. ^ It follows that people suffer quite enough
by not getting it, because it is only by means of it that they
obtain the tokens of kindness in the human countenance. One
must possess great loftiness of soul and steadiness of opinion to
dispense with it ; for even your friends make you feel the value
of exclusive power, by the eagerness of their attention to those
who possess it.
In England the adherents of the Opposition are often better
received in society than those of the court ; in France, before
inviting a person to dinner, you ask if he be in the good graces
of ministers ; and in a time of famine it might be even well
to refuse bread to those who happen to be out of favour at
court. The Bonapartists had enjoyed the homage of society during

172 CONSIDERATIONS ON
their reign in the same way as the royalist party that succeeded
them, and nothing hurt them so much as to occupy only the se
cond place in the very saloons, where they were so lately pre
eminent. The men of the old government had, besides, that
advantage over them which is. conferred by grace and the ha^
bit of good manners of former days. There consequently sub
sisted a perpetual jealousy between the old and the new men of
title ; and, among the latter, stronger passions were awakened
by, every little circumstance to, which the various pretensions
gave. birth.
The King had not, however, re-established the conditions re
quisite, under the old government, to be admitted at court; he
received, with a politeness perfectly well measured, all those
who were presented to him ; but though places were too often
given, to those who had served Bonaparte, nothing was more
difficult than to appease those vanities that had become easily
alarmed. Even in society it was. wished that the two parties
should mingle together, and each, apparently at least, complied.
The most moderate in their party were, still the royalists who
had returned with the King, and who had not quitted him dur
ing the whole of his exile: the Count of Blacas, the Duke of
Grammont, the Duke of Castries, the Count of Vaudreuil,. &c.
Their conscience bearing witness that they had acted in the
most honourable and disinterested manner, according to
their opinion, their minds were calm and benevolent. But
those, whose virtuous indignation against the party of the
Usurper was the most difficult to repress, were the noblesse or
their adherents, who had solicited places ofthe Usurper during
his power, and who separated from him very abruptly rin the
day of his fall. The enthusiasm for legitimacy of such a cham
berlain of Madame Mere, or of such a lady-in-waiting of Ma
dame Saur, knew no bounds ; and we, whom Bonaparte had
proscribed during the whole course of his reign, examined our
selves to know whether we had not been his favourites, at times
when a certain delicacy of mind obliged us to defend him
against the invectives of those whom he had loaded with fa
vours.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 173i.
We very often perceive a kind of tempered arrogance in the
aristocrats, but the Bonapartists had certainly still more of it
during the days of their power; and at least the aristocrats
then adhered to their ordinary weapons, a constrained air, cere
monious politeness, conversations in a low tone of voice ; in
short, all that a quick eye can observe, but that a spirited cha
racter disdains. It was easy to guess that the ultra-royalists
did themselves violence in the civilities they showed to the con
trary party ; but it cost them still more to show them to the
friends of liberty than to the generals of Bonaparte : the latter
obtained from them attentions, which faithful subjects always
ow,e, in conformity with their system, to the agents of royal
authority, whoever they may be.
The defenders of liberal ideas, alike adverse to the partisans
of the old and new despotism, might have complained of seeing
the flatterers of Bonaparte preferred to them ; those men who
offered no other guarantee to their new master, but the sudden
desertion of the old. But of what importance to them were the
miserable disputes of society? It is possible, however, that
such motives may have excited the resentment of a certain class
of persons, at least as strongly as the most essential interests.
But was this a reason for replunging the world in misery by the
recall of Bonaparte, and, at the same time, setting at stake the
independence and liberty ofthe country.
In the first years ofthe Revolution, much may have been suf
fered from the terrorism of society, if it can be so called; and
the aristocracy madea dexterous use of its established respecta
bility, to declare such or such an opinion out ofthe pale of good
company. This first-rate company exerted in former days an
extensive jurisdiction ; some were afraid of being banished
from it ; others wished to be received into it ; and the great
lords and the great ladies of the old regime were beset with the
most active pretensions for their favour. But nothing similar
existed under the restoration : Bonaparte, by imitating courts
in a coarse manner* had dissipated their illusions ; fifteen
years of military despotism change every thing in the cus
toms of a country. The young nobility partook of the spi-

174 CONSIDERATIONS ON
ritof the army; they still retained the good manners which
their parents had inculcated ; but they possessed no real in
formation. Women feel nowhere a necessity for being supe
rior to men ; and only a few gave themselves that trouble.
There remained in Paris very few amiable people of the old
government; for persons in years had, for the most part, sunt
under long misfortunes, or were soured by inveterate resent
ments. The conversation of new men was necessarily more in
teresting: they had performed an active part; they took the
lead of events ; while their adversaries could scarcely be drag
ged on in their train. Foreigners sought more eagerly those
who had made themselves known during the Revolution ; and
in this respect, at least, the self-love of the latter must have
been satisfied. Moreover, the old empire of good company in
France, consisted in the difficult conditions which were required
to form a part of it, and in the liberty of conversation amidst
select society : these two great advantages could no longer be
found. The mixture of ranks and parties had led to the adoption of
the English fashion of large companies, which prevents any
choice among the persons invited, and consequently diminishes
much the value of the invitation. The fear inspired by the im
perial government had destroyed every habit of independence
in conversation ; the French under that government had almost
all acquired a diplomatic reserve, so that social intercourse
was confined to insignificant phrases, which in no way remind
ed us of the daring spirit of France. There was certainly
nothing to fear in 1814, under Louis XVIII. ; but the habit of
reserve was acquired ; and besides, the courtiers chose that it
should be the fashion not to talk of politics, nor treat of any se
rious subject : they hoped by this conduct to lead the natiou
back to frivolity, and consequently to submission ; but the only
result they obtained was that of rendering conversation insipid,
and depriving themselves of every means of knowing the real
opinion of individuals.
Yet this society, little attractive as it was, proved a singular
object of jealousy to a great number of Bonaparte's courtiers ;

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 175
and with their vigorous hands, they would willingly, like Sam
son, have overthrown the edifice in order to make a ruin of the
hall, where they were not admitted to the banquet. Generals
rendered illustrious by conquest wished, to be made chamber
lains, and their wives ladies in waiting : a, singular ambition
for a warrior, who calls himself the defender of liberty! What
then is this liberty ? is it only the national property, military
rank, and civil employments 1 does it consist in the wealth and
power of a few men, in preference to others ? or, are the as-
sertbrs of liberty charged with the noble mission of introducing
into France a sentiment of justice, a sentiment of dignity in all
classes, fixed principles, and respect for knowledge and perso
nal merit ?
It would, notwithstanding, have been better policy to have
given these generals places as chamberlains, since such was
their wish ; but the conquerors of Europe would really have
found the life of a courtier embarrassing ; and they might well
have allowed the King to live within his palace with those to
whom he had been habituated, during his long years of exile.
In England, who cares whether such or such a man is in the
King's household ? Those who follow this pursuit, do not in
general mix in public business ; and we have never heard that
Fox or Pitt were very desirous of passing their time in such a
manner. It was Napoleon alone, who could put into the heads
ofthe soldiers of the republic all these fanties of citizen-gentle
man, which made them necessarily dependant on the favour of
courts. What would Dugommier, Hoche, Goubert, Dampierre,
and so many others, who fell for the independence of their
country, have said, if, in recompense of their victories, they
had been offered a place in the household ofa prince, be he who
he might ? But the men formed by Bonaparte have all the pas
sions of the Revolution, and all the vanities of the old govern
ment. There was but one means of obtaining the sacrifice of
these littlenesses — that of substituting in their stead great na
tional interests.
Finally, the etiquette of courts in all ils rigour can hardly be
re-established in a country where those habits are lost. If Bona-

176 t CONSIDERATIONS ON
parte had not mingled with all these things the habits of camps,
he would have been insupportable. Henry IV. lived familiar
ly with all the distinguished persons of his time ; and Louis XI.
himself used to sup with the citizens, and to invite them to his
table. The Emperor of Russia, the Archdukes of Austria, the
princes of the house of Prussia, those of England, in short, all
the sovereigns of Europe, live, in some respects, like private in
dividuals. In France, on the contrary, the princes of the Royal
Family scarcely ever go out of the circle of the court. Eti-,
quette, as it existed formerly, is completely in contradiction to
the manners and opinion of the age : it has the double incon-
veniency of giving occasion to ridicule, and yet of exciting en
vy. No person chooses to be excluded from any thing in
France, not even from those distinctions which are laughed at ;
and there being as yet no open and public road to the service
of the state, disputes are agitated on every question to which
the civil code of court introductions can give rise. They hate
each other for opinions on which life may depend ; but they
hate each other still more on account of all those combinations
of self-love which two reigns, and two orders of nobility, have
called forlh and multiplied. The French have become so diffi
cult to satisfy, from the infinite increase in the pretensions'of
all classes, that a representative constitution is as necessary to
deliver government from the numberless claims of individuals,
as it is to preserve" individuals from what is arbitrary in
government.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 17'

CHAPTER XI.

Of the system which ought to have been followed in 1814, to
maintain the House of Bourbon on the Throne of France,
Many people think that if Napoleon had not returned, the
Bourbons had nothing to fear. I am not of this opinion ; for
such a man, it must be allowed, was an alarming pretender;
and if the House of Hanover could fear Prince Edward, it was
madness to leave Bonaparte in a position which invited him as
it were to form audacious projects.
M. de Talleyrand, in re-assuming in the Congress of Vienna
almost as much ascendency in the affairs of Europe, as French
diplomacy had exercised under Bonaparte, certainly gave great
proofs of his personal address. But should the French govern
ment, after changing its nature, have interfered with the affairs
of Germany ? Were not all the just resentments of the German
nation yet too recent to be effaced ? It was then the first duty
of the King's ministers to have asked of the Congress of Vienna
the removal of Bonaparte to a greater distance. Like Cato, in
the Roman senate, when he repeated incessantly, " Carthage
must be destroyed," the ministers of France ought to have laid
aside all other interests, till Napoleon was no longer within
view of France and Italy.
It was on the coast of Provence that men attached to the
royal cause might have been useful to their country by preserv
ing it from Bonaparte. The plain good sense of the Swiss
peasants, I remember, induced them to foretell, in the first year
ofthe restoration, that Bonaparte would return. Every day at
tempts were made in society to convince of this the persons who
could make themselves heard at court ; but the etiquette which
prevails in France not allowing the monarch to be approached ;
and ministerial gravity, another inconsistency in the present
times, removing to a distance from the first servants of the state
vol. 11. 23

173 CONSIDERATIONS ON
those who could have told them what was going on, an improvi
dence without example proved the ruin of the country. But
even if Bonaparte had not landed at Cannes, the system follow
ed by the ministers, as we have endeavoured to prove, had al
ready endangered the restoration, and left the King without any
real strength in the midst of;France. Let us first examine the
conduct which government oughl to have adopted in respect to
each party, and conclude by recalling those principles which
ought to guide the direction of affairs and the choice of men.
The army, it has been said, was difficult to bring round. No
doubt, if the intention was to maintain an army in order to con
quer Europe, and establish despotism in the interior, that army
must have preferred Bonaparte as a military chief to the princes
of the Bourbon family ; nothing could change such a disposition.
But if, while paying regularly the appointments and pensions of
the military who had shed so much glory on the French name,
the Court had convinced the army that it was neither feared nor
wanted, since it had been determined to take a liberal and
pacific policy as a guide ; if, far from insinuating, in a whisper,
to the officers that they would gain favour by supporting the
encroachments of authority, they had been told that the consti
tutional government, having'the people on its side, would tend
fo diminish the number of the troops of the line, transforming
ihe military into citizens, and converting a warlike spirit into
civil emulation, the officers would perhaps have regretted for
fiOtae time longer their former importance ; but the nation, of
f. hom they constitute a part more than in any other army, since
ihey are taken from all its classes, this nation, satisfied wilh its
constitution, and relieved from the apprehension of what of all
things it fears most, the return ofthe privileges ofthe noblesse
and the clergy, would have calmed the military instead of
irritating them by its disquietudes. It was useless to try to
imitate Bonaparte in order to please the army ; so fruitless an
attempt could bring only ridicule on those who made it ; but,
by adopting a system altogether different, even directly contrary,
they could have obtained that respect which arises from justice
and Obedience to the law : that path at least had not been trod
den by Bonaparte.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 179

In regard to the emigrants whose property was confiscated,
what had been already done in 1814, might sometimes have
been repeated ; an extraordinary supply might have been asked
of the legislative body to acquit the personal debts of the King.
And since there would have been no tribute to pay to foreigners,
had not Bonaparte returned, the deputies would have acceded
to the wish of the monarch, and would have respected the man
ner in which he employed an occasional supplement to his civil,
list.* Let it be asked with sincerity, if, when the royalist cause
seemed desperate, the emigrants had been told in England,
" Louis XVIII. shall ascend the throne of France, but with the
condition of being limited to the powers possessed by the King
of England ; and you, who will return with him, shall obtain all
the indemnities and favours which a monarch, according to your
own wishes, can grant; but if properly be restored to ypu, it
shall be by his gift, not by your own rights ; if you acquire any
power it shall be by your personal talents, not by the privileges
of your class ;" would not they all have consented to this treaty ?
Why then suffer themselves to be intoxicated by a moment of
prosperity ? And if, I take a pleasure in repeating it, Henry IV.
who had been a protestant, and Sully who remained one.
knew how to restrain the pretensions of their fellow soldiers,
why have not the ministers of Louis XVIII. also the art of
governing the dangerous friends whom Louis XVI. himself de
signated in his will as having greatly injured him by mistaken
zeal? The existing clergy, or rather that which it was wished tp re
establish, was another difficulty which presented itself from the
first year ofthe restoration. The conduct of government towards

"The King gave orders in 1815, that out of this supplement the two millions
deposited by my father in the Royal Treasury, should be restored to his family, and
(he order was about to be executed at the time ofthe landing of Bonaparte The
justice of our demand could not be contested ; but I do not less admire the conduct
ofthe King, who, though regulating with the utmost economy many of his personal
expenses, would not retrench those which equity required. Since the return of his
Majesty, the capital of two millions has been paid to us by an inscription on t!)«
Great Book of 100,000 francs a year. (Note of ihe, Author.)

180 CONSIDERATIONS ON
the clergy ought to be the same as towards all other classes :
toleration and liberty, taking things on their actual footing. If
the nation desired a rich and powerfuLclergy in France, it well
knows how to re-establish it ; but if no one wishes for it, then it
ivill only alienate more and more the French from piety, to pre
sent religion to them as a tax, and the priests as men who seek
to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. The persecu
tions which the priests suffered during the Revolution are con
tinually cited : it was then a duty to serve them by every
possible means; but the re-establishment ofthe political influ
ence of the clergy has no connexion with the just compassion
which the sufferings of the priests inspired. It is the same with
the noblesse ; their privileges ought not to be renewed as a
compensation for the injustice they have suffered. Again, it
does not follow, because the remembrance of Louis XVI. and
his family awaken a deep and painful interest, that absolute
power should be the necessary consolation to be offered to his
descendants. This would be imitating Achilles, when he caused
the sacrifice of slaves on the tomb of Patroclus.
The nation always exists ; it cannot die ; and it must on no
account be deprived of the institutions which belong to it.
When the horrors which have been committed in France are
described, merely with the indignation which they naturally
awaken, every mind is in sympathy ; but when they are made
the means of exciting hatred against liberty, the tears which
spontaneous regret would have caused to flow are dried up.
The great problem which ministers had to solve in 1814, was
to be studied in the history of England. They ought to have
taken as a model the conduct of the House of Hanover, not that
of the House of Sluart.
But it will be said, what marvellous effects would the Eng
lish Constitution have produced in France, since the Charter
which resembles it so nearly has not saved us ? First, greater
confidence would have been placed, even in the duration of the
Charter, if it had been founded on a compact with the nation,
and if the Princes of the Royal Family had not been surrounded
by persons professing, for the most part, unconstitutional prin-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 181
ciples. No one has dared to build on such unstable ground,
and factions have remained on the alert, waiting for the fall of
the edifice.
It was of importance to establish local authorities in the towns
and villages, to create political interests in the provinces in or
der to diminish the ascendency of Paris, where people aim at
getting every thing by favour. It would have been possible to
revive a desire for public esteem in those individuals who had
terribly dispensed with it, by making the suffrages of their fel
low citizens necessary- to their being chosen deputies. A nu
merous election for the Chamber of Representatives (six hun
dred deputies at least; the English House of Commons has
more) would have given a greater respectability to the Legisla
tive Body, and consequently many distinguished persons would
have engaged in that career. It has been acknowledged that
the qualification of age, fixed at forty years, was a damp to
every kind of emulation. But the ministers dreaded delibera
tive assemblies above every thing ; and, influenced by their old
experience ofthe early events of the Revolution, they directed
all their efforts against the freedom of speech in the Assembly.
They did not perceive that, in a country intoxicated with mili
tary ardour, the freedom of debate is a protection instead of a
danger, since it adds to the strength of the civil power.
To increase, as much as possible, the influence ofthe Cham
ber of Peers, there should have been no obligation to preserve
all the former senators, unless they had a right to that honour
by personal merit. The peerage ought to have been heredita
ry, and composed, with discernment, of the ancient families of
France, which would have given it dignity ; and of men who
had acquired an honourable name in the civil and military ca
reer. In this manner the new nobility would have derived lus
tre from the old, and the old from the new ; they would thus
have advanced towards that constitutional blending of classes,
without which there is nothing but arrogance on one side and
servility on the other.
It would also have been well not to have condemned the
Chamber of Peers to deliberate in secret. This was depriving

182 CONSIDERATIONS ON
it'of the surest means of acquiring an ascendency pver the pub
lic mind. The Chamber of Deputies, although ihey had no
real title to popularity, since they were not elected directly, ex
ercised more power on public opinion than the Chamber of
Peers, solely because the Speakers were known and heard.
In short, the French desire the fame and the happiness at
tached to the English Constitution, and the experiment is well
worth a trial ; but the system once adopted, it is essential that
the language, the institutions, and. the customs should be brought
to conformity with it. For it is with liberty as with religion ;
hypocrisy in a noble cause is more revolting than its complete
abjuration. No address ought lo be received, no proclamation
issued that did not formally remind us of the respect due to the
Constitution, as well as to the Throne. The superstition of
royalty, like all other superstitions, alienates those whom the
simplicity of truth would have attracted.
A public education, not under the management of religious
orders, to which we cannot return, but a liberal education, the
establishment of schools in all the departments for mutual in
struction on the new plan ; the universities, \he polytechnic
school, every thing which could restore the splendour of learn
ing to France, ought to have been encouraged under the go
vernment of so enlightened a Prince as Louis XVIII. In this
manner it would have been practicable to divert the public
mind from military enthusiasm, and compensate to the nation
for the absence of that fatal glory, which produces so much evil,
whether it is gained or lost.
No arbitrary act, and we are happy in insisting on that fact,
no arbitrary act was committed during the first year of the re
storation. But the existence of the police, forming a ministry
as under Bonaparte, was discordant with the justice and mild
ness of the royal government. The principal employment of
the police was, as we have already stated, the inspection of the
newspapers and the spirit of the latter was detestable. Even
admitting that this inspection was necessary, the censor should
at least have been chosen among the deputies and peers ; but
il was violating all the principles of representative government,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 183
to put into the hands of ministers themselves the direction of
that opinion by which they are to be tried, and enlightened.
If the liberty of the press had existed in France, I will venture
to affirm that Bonaparte would never have returned ; the dan
ger of his return would have been pointed out in such a man
ner as would have dispelled the illusions of obstinacy ; and
truth would have served as a guide, instead of producing a fa
tal explosion.
Finally, the choice of ministers, that is, of the party from
which they should have been chosen, was of all points most im
portant to the safety of the restoration. In times when men are
occupied with political debates, as they were formerly with re
ligious quarrels, free nations can be governed only by the aid
of those whose opinions are in correspondence with the opi
nions of the majority. I shall begin then by describing those
who ought to have been excluded, before pointing out the men
who ought to have been chosen.
None of the men who committed any crime in the revolution,
that is, who shed innocent blood, can be in any way useful to
France. They are reprobated by the public, and their own
disquietude leads them into deviations of every kind. Give
them repose and security ;- for who can say what he would have
dOne amidst such great agitations ? He who has not been able
to keep his conscience and his honour clear in any struggle
whatever, may still be dexterous enough to serve himself, but
can never serve his country.
Among those who took an active part in the government of
Napoleon, a great number of military men have virtues which
do honour to France, and some administrators possess distin
guished abilities, from which advantages may be derived ; but
the principal chiefs, the favourites of power, those who enriched
themselves by servile acquiescence, those who delivered up
France to that man who perhaps would have respected the na
tion, if he had met with any obstacle to his ambition, any great
ness of soul in those by whom he was surrounded— there could
be no choice more contrary than that of such men to the dignity
- as well as safety of the crown. If it is the system of the Bona-

184 CONSIDERATIONS ON
partists to be always the slaves of power, if they bring their
science of despotism to the foot of every throne, ought ancient
virtues to be brought in alliance with their corruption ? If it
were intended to reject all liberty, better in that case would it
have been to have gone over to the ultra-royalists, who were at
least sincere in their opinion, and considered absolute power as
an article of faith. But is it possible to rely on the promises of
men who have' set aside all political scruples ? They have abili
ties, it is said ; ah ! accursed be those abilities which can dis
pense with even one true feeling, with one just and firm act of
morality! and of what utility can be the talents of those who
overwhelm you when you are sinking ? Let a dark speck ap
pear on the horizon, their features lose by degrees their gra
cious look ; they begin to reason on the faults that have been
committed ; they bitterly accuse their colleagues, and make
gentle lamentations for their master ; until, by a gradual meta
morphosis, they are transformed into enemies ; they who had so
lately misled princes by their oriental adulation !
After having pronounced these exclusions, there remains, and
a great blessing it is, there remains, I say, no choice but that
of the friends of liberty ; either they who have preserved that
opinion unsullied since 1789; or they who, less advanced in
years, follow it now, and adopt those principles in the midst of
the efforts made to stifle them ; a new generation, which has
arisen in these later times, and on whom our future hopes de
pend. Such men are called upon to terminate the Revolution by
liberty, and it is the only possible close to that sanguinary tra
gedy. 'Every effort to sail against the torrent will but overset
the bark ; but let this torrent enter into channels, and all the
country which it laid waste will be fertilized.
A friend of liberty in the situation of minister to the king,
would respect the supreme chief of the nation, and be faithful
to the constitutional monarch, in life, and death ; but he would
renounce those officious flatteries, which weaken belief in what
is true, instead of increasing attachment. Many sovereigns in
Europe are very well obeyed, without requiring to be deified.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 185
Why then in France are writers on every occasion so prodigal
of this incense ? A friend of liberty would never suffer France
lo be insulted hy any man who depended, in any degree, on
government. Do we not hear some emigrants saying, that the
king alone is the country ; (patrie ;) that no confidence can be
placed in Frenchmen, &c. ? What is the consequence of this in
sensate language ? What is it? that France must be governed
by foreign armies. What an outrage ! what blasphemy ! Un
doubtedly those armies are now stronger than we are ; but they
would never have the voluntary assent ofa French heart; and
to whatever state Bonaparte may have reduced France, there is
in a minister, who is a friend of liberty, such a dignity of char
acter, such a love for his country, such a noble respect for the
monarch and the laWs, as would check all the arrogance of a
military force, whoever might be its leaders. Such ministers,
never committing an arbitrary act themselves, would not be in
the dependence of the military ; for it was much more to estab
lish despotism than to defend the country, that the different par
ties cPurted the troops of the line. Bonaparte pretended, as in
the times of barbarism, that the whole secret of social order
consisted in bayonets. How, without them, will it be said,
could the Protestants and Catholics, Republicans and Vendeans,
be made to go on together ? All these elements of discord ex
isted in England in 1688 under different names ; but the invin
cible ascendency ofa constitution, set afloat by skilful and up
right pilots, brought every thing under submission to the law.
An assembly of deputies, really elected by the nation, exer
cise a majestic power, and the ministers of the monarch, if their
souls were filled with the love of country and of liberty, would
find every where Frenchmen ready to aid them, even without
their knowledge ; because, in that case, opinion and not interest
would form the tie between the governors and the governed.
But if you employ, and this we shall not cease to repeat, if you
employ individuals, who hate free institutions, to carry them
on, however upright they may be, however well resolved to ad
here to their promise, a discordance will always be felt between
their natural inclinations and their imperious duty.
vot. n. 24

186 CONSIDERATIONS ON
The artists of the seventeenth century painted Louis XIV. as
a Hercules, with a large peruke on his head : superannuated
doctrines, reproduced in a popular assembly, present an equal
ly great disparity. All that edifice of old prejudices which
some seek to re-establish in France, is nothing but a castle of
cards whieh the first breath of wind will overset. We can cal
culate only on two kinds of force in this country : public opi
nion, which calls for liberty, and the foreign troops who obey
their sovereigns; all the rest is mere trifling.
Thus whenever a minister pretends that his countrymen are
not made for freedom, accept this act of humility in his quality
of Frenchman, as a resignation of his place ; for that minister
who can deny the almost universal desire of France, knows his
country too ill> to be capable of directing its affairs.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 18"

CHAPTER XII.

What should have been the Conduct of the Fjiends of Liberty
in 1814. ?
The friends of liberty, we have already said, could alone have
contributed in an efficacious manner to the establishment of
constitutional monarchy in 1814; but how ought they to have
acted at that period ? This question, no less important than
the former, deserves also to be treated.. We shall discuss it
frankly, since we, for our own part, are persuaded that it was
the duty of all good Frenchmen to defend the Restoration, and
the constitutional charter.
Charles Fox, in his history of the two last kings of the house
of Stuart, says, that " a restoration is commonly the most dan
gerous, and the worst, of all revolutions." He was right in
applying this maxim to the two reigns of Charles II. and James
II., whose history he was writing ; he saw, on the one side, a
new dynasty, which owed its crown to liberty, whilst the old
dynasty thought itself despoiled of its natural, right, by the
limitation of absolute power ; and consequently avenged itself
on all those who had entertained such intentions. The principle
of hereditary succession, so indispensable in general to the
repose of nations, was necessarily adverse to it on this occa
sion. The English then did very wisely in calling to the throne
the protestant branch, and without this change, their constitution
would never have been established. But when the chance of
hereditary succession has given you for a monarch such a man
as Louis XVIII., whose serious studies and quietude of mind
are in harmony with constitutional liberty ; and when, on the
other hand, the chief of a new dynasty showed himself, during
fifteen years, to be the most violent despot of modern times,
how can such a combination in any way remind us of the wise
William III., and the sanguinary and superstitious James II. ?

188 CONSIDERATIONS ON
William III., although he owed his crown to election, often
found that the manners of liberty were not very gracious, and
would, if he had been able, have made himself a despol like his
father-in-law. Sovereigns of ancient date think themselves, it
is true, independent of the choice of the people ; the popes, in
likp manner, think themselves infallible ; the nobles are proud
of their genealogy ; every man and every class have their dis
puted pretensions. But what was there to fear at this time from
those pretensions in France ? Liberty had nothing to dread at
the time of the first Restoration but the very talamity which
befel it : a military commotion, bringing back a despotic chief,
whose return and whose defeat served as a pretext and a motive
for the establishment of foreign armies in France.
Louis XVIII. possessed the essence of a magistrate in his
mind and his disposition. Inasmuch as it would be absurd to
consider time past as the despot of the present, no less would it
be desirable to add* when it can be done, the support of the one
to the improvement ofthe other. The upper chamber had the
advantage of inspiring some great lords with a taste for new
institutions. In England the most decided enemies of arbitrary
power are found among the patricians of the first rank ; and it
would be a great happiness for France, if the nobility would at
length acquire a knowledge of, and an attachment for, free
institutions. There are qualities connected with illustrious
birth of which it would be fortunate that the state could avail
itself. A people exclusively of commonalty (bourgeois) could
with difficulty establish itself in the midst of Europe, unless it
had recourse to military aristocracy, the most fatal of all to
liberty. Civil wars must end by mutual concessions, and already the
great lords were observed yielding to liberty in order to please
the King ; the nation would have gained ground every day ; the
trackers of power, who scent where it lies and throw themselves
on its path, did not then cling to the extreme royalists. The
army began to assume a liberal tone : this was, in truth, because
it regretted the loss of its former influence in the state ; but at
all events the cause of reason derived advantage from its ill-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 189
humour. We heard Bonaparte's generals endeavouring to
speak of the liberty of the press, of the liberty of the person ;
to pronounce those phrases which they had received as a watch
word, but which they would at last haVe comprehended by dint
of frequent repetition.
The most respectable military men lamented the defeats of
the army, but they allowed the necessity of putting a stop to
continual reprisals, which would, in the course of time, destroy
civilization. For if the Russians were to avenge Moscow at
Paris, and the French Paris at St. Petersburg!), these sanguinary
marches of soldiers across Europe would annihilate all know
ledge, and all the enjoyments of social life. Besides, did the
first entry of foreign troops into Paris efface the numerous tri
umphs of the French ? Were these not still present to the
recollection of all Europe ? Did Europe ever speak of French
valour but with respect? And was it not just, however painful,
that the French should feel, in their turn, the dangers attached
to their unjust wars ? In short, was that irritation, which ex
cited some individuals to desire the overthrow ofa government
proposed by foreigners, a patriotic feeling? Certainly the
European nations had not taken up arms to replace the Bour
bons on the throne ; and therefore the coalition oughl not to
have been attributed to the old dynasty ; it was impossible to
deny that the descendants of Henri IV. were French ; and Louis
XVIII. had conducted himself in the negotiation for peace as
such, when, after all the concessions made before his arrival, he
had been able to preserve untouched the old territory of France.
It was not then conformable to truth to say, that national pride
demanded new wars ; France had still a great share of glory,
and if the nation had known how lo reject Bonaparte and to
become free, like England, never would she have seen the Bri
tish flag wave a second time on her ramparts.
No confiscation, no exile, no illegal arrest, took place during
ten months ; what a progress was this on emerging from fifteen
years of tyranny ? England hardly attained this noble result
thirty years *after the death of Cromwell, fn short, there was
no doubt that in the succeeding session, the liberty of the press

190 CONSIDERATIONS ON
would have been decreed. Now to this law, the first of a free
state, may be applied the words of Scripture, " Let there be
light, and there was light."
The chief error in the charter, which lay in the mode of elec
tion and in the condition of eligibility, was already acknowled
ged by all enlightened men, and changes in this respect would
have been the natural consequence of the liberty of the press,
because that liberty always places great truths in a conspicuous
light. Genius, a talent for writing, the exercise of thought, all
that the reign of bayonets had stifled, was reviving by degrees ;
and if a constitutional language was held to Bonaparte, it was
because people had respired for ten months under Louis XVIII.
Some vain people complained ; a few imaginations were
alarmed ; a few venal writers, by talking every day to the na
tion of its happiness, made it doubtful of it ; but when the cham
pions of thought had entered the lists, the French would have
recognised the voice of their friends ; they would have learned
by what dangers national independence was threatened ; what
motives they had to remain at peace abroad as at home, and to
regain the esteem of Europe by the exercise of civil virtues.
The monotonous recitals of war become confounded in the me
mory or lost in oblivion ; the political history of the free nations
of antiquity is still present to every mind, and has served as a
study to the world for two thousand years.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 191
CHAPTER XIII.
Return of Bonaparte.
No, never shall I forget the moment when I learned from one of
my friends, on the morning ofthe 6th March, 1815, that Bona
parte had disembarked on the coast of France : I had the mis
fortune to foresee instantly the consequences of that event, such
as they have since taken place, and I thought that the earth was
about to open under my feet. For several days after the suc
cess of this man, the aid of prayer failed me entirely, and, in my
trouble, it seemed to me that the Deity had withdrawn from the
earth, and would no longer communicate with the beings whom
he had placed there. . ,
I suffered in the bottom of my heart from personal circum
stances ; but the situation of France absorbed every other
thought. I said to M. de Lavalette, whom I met almost at the
hour when this news was resounding around us : " There is an
end of liberty, if Bonaparte triumph, and of national indepen
dence, if he be defeated." The event has, 1 think, but too
much justified this sad prediction.
It was impossible to avoid an inexpressible irritation before
the return, and during the progress of Bonaparte. For a month
back, all those who have any acquaintance with revolutions felt
the air charged with storms ; repeated notice of this was given
to persons connected with government ; but many among them
regarded the disquieted friends of liberty as relapsing, and as
still believing in the influence of the people, in the power of re
volutions. The most moderate among the aristocrats thought
that public affairs regarded government only, and that it was-
ir.discreet to interfere with them. They could not be made to
understand, that to be acquainted with what is passing in a coun
try where the spirit of liberty ferments, men in office should ne
glect no ipfelligence, be indifferent to no circumstance, and

192

CONSIDERATIONS ON

multiply their numbers by activity, instead of wrapping them
selves up in a mysterious silence. The partisans of Bonaparte
were a thousand times better informed on every thing than the
servants of the King ; for the Bonapartists, as well as their mas
ter, were aware of what importance every individual can be in a
time of trouble. Formerly every thing depended on men in
office ; at present those who are out of office act more on pub
lic opinion than government itself, and have consequently a bet
ter foresight into the future.
A continual dread had taken possession of my soul several
weeks before the disembarkation of Bonaparte. In the evening,
when the beautiful buildings of the town were displayed by the
rays of the moon, it seemed to me that I saw my happiness and
that of France, like a sick friend, whose smile is the more amia
ble, because he is on the eve of leaving us. When told that
this terrible man was at Cannes, I shrunk before the certainty
as before a poignard ; but when it was no longer possible to
escape that certainty, I was but too well assured that he would
be at Paris in a fortnight. The royalists made a mockery of
this terror ; it was strange to hear them say that this event was
the most fortunate thing possible, because we should then be
relieved from Bonaparte, because the two chambers would feel
the necessity of giving the King absolute power, as if absolute
power was a thing to be given ! — despotism, like liberty, is as
sumed, it is never granted. I am not sure that among the ene
mies of every constitution, there may not have been some who
rejoiced at the convulsion which might recall foreigners and in
duce them to impose an absolute government on France.
Three days were passed in the inconsiderate hopes of the
royalist party. At last, on the 9th of March, we were told that
nothing was known of the Lyons' telegraph, because a cloud had
prevented reading the communication. I was at no loss to urn
derstand what this cloud was. I went in the evening to the
Tuilleries to attend the King's levee; on seeing him, it seemed
to me that, with a great deal of courage, he had an expression
of sadness, and nothing was more affecting than his. noble resig
nation al such a moment. On going out, I perceived on the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 193
walls of the apartment, the eagles of Napoleon which had not
yet been removed, and they seemed to me to have re-assumed
their threatening look.
In the evening, in a party, one of those young ladies who,
with so many others, had contributed to the spirit of frivolity
which it was attempted to oppose to. the spirit of faction, as if
the one could contend against the other ; one of these young
ladies, I say, came up to me, and began jesting on that anxiety
which I could not conceal : " What, Madam," said she to me,
" can you apprehend that the French will not fight for their legi
timate King against a usurper?" How, without committing
one's self, could one answer a phrase so adroitly turned ? But,
after twenty-five years of revolution, ought one to flatter one's
self that legitimacy, an idea respectable but abstract, would
have more ascendency over the soldiers than all the recollec
tions of their long wars ? In fact, none of them contended
against the supernatural ascendency of the genius pf the Afri
can isles ; they called for the tyrant in the name of liberty :
they rejected in its name the constitutional monarch; they
brought six hundred thousand foreigners into the bosom
of France, to efface the humiliation of having seen them
there during a few weeks; and this frightful day of the 1st
of March, the day when Bonaparte again set foot on the soil
of France, was more fertile in disasters than any epoch of his
tory. I will not launch out, as has been but too much done, into de
clamations of every kind against Napoleon. He did what it
was natural to do in endeavouring to regain the throne he had
lost, and his progress from Cannes to Paris is one of the great
est conceptions of audacity that can be cited in history. But
what shall we say of the enlightened men who did not see the
misfortunes of France and of the world in the possibility of-his
return ? A great general, it will be said, was wanted to avenge
the reverses experienced by the Frpnch army. In that case,
Bonaparte ought not to have proclaimed the treaty of Paris ;
for if he was unable to reconquer the barrier of the Rhine sa-
vol.. n. 25

1 94 CONSIDERATIONS ON
crificed by that treaty, what purpose did it answer tO expose that
Which France was possessing in peace ? But, it will be answer
ed, the secret intention of Bonaparte was to restore to France
her.natural barriers. But was it not clear that Europe would
penetrate that intention, that she would form a coalition to re
sist it, and that, particularly at the time in question, France was
unable to resist united Europe ? The Congress was still assem
bled ; and although a great deal of discontent was produced by
several of their resolutions, was it possible that the nations
would make choice of Bonaparte for their defender ? Was it he
who had oppressed them whom they could oppose to the faults
of their princes ? The people were more violent than the so
vereigns in the war against Bonaparte ; and France, on taking
him back for her ruler, necessarily brought on herself the hatred
both of governments and nations. Will it be pretended that it
was for the interest of liberty that they recalled the man who
had, during fifteen years, shown himself most dexterous in the
art of being master — a man equally violent and deceitful ? Peo
ple spoke of his conversion, and there were not wanting be
lievers in this miracle : less faith certainly was required for
the miracles of Mahomet. The friends of liberty have been
able to see in Bonaparte only the counter-revolution of des
potism, and the revival of an old regime more recent, but
on that account more formidable ; for the nation was still
completely fashioned to tyranny, and neither principles nor
public virtue had had time to take root. Personal interests
only, and not opinions, conspired for the return of Bonaparte,
and of those mad interests which were blinded in regard
to their own danger, and accounted the fate of France as no
thing. Foreign ministers have called the French army a perjured
army ; but this epithet cannot be justified. The army that aban
doned James II. for William III. was then alsp perjured ; and
besides the English rallied under the son-in-law and the daugh
ter to dethrone the father, a circumstance still more cruel. Well,
it will be said, be it so ; each army betrayed its du%. I do

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 195
not admit even the comparison ; the French soldiers, in general
under the age of forty, did not know the Bourbons, and they
had fought for twenty years under the orders of Bonaparte ;
could they fire on their General ? And from the moment that
they refused to fire on him, would they not be prevailed on to
follow him ? The men really to blame are those who, after
having approximated to Louis XVIII., after ohtaining favours
from him, and made him promises, were capable of joining Bo
naparte. The epithet, the dreadful epithet of treachery is ap
plicable to them ; but it is cruelly unjust to address it to the
French army. The governments that placed Bonaparte in a
situation to return ought to take the blame of his return. For
to what natural feeling could an appeal be made to persuade
soldiers that they ought to kill the General who had led them
twenty times to victory ? the General whom foreigners had
overturned, who had fought against foreigners at the head of
Frenchmen less than a year before ? All the reflections which
made us hate that man and love the King, were adapted nei
ther to the soldiers nor to the subaltern officers. They had been
fifteen years faithful to the Emperor ; that Emperor advanced
towards them without defence ; he called them by their names ;
he spoke to them of the battles which they had gained with
him ; how was it possible to resist ? In a few years the name
of the King, the blessings of liberty, would have captivated
every mind, and the soldiers would have learned from their
parents to respect the public welfare. But scarcely ten
months had passed since the removal of Bonaparte, and his
departure dated from an event which must necessarily put
warriors in despair, the entry of foreigners into the capital of
France. But the accusers of our country will say, if the army are ex
cusable, what shall we think of the peasantry, of the inhabitants
of the towns who welcomed Bonaparte ? I will make in the na
tion the same distinction as in the army. Enlightened men
could see nothing but a despot in Bonaparte ; but, by a con
course of very distressing circumstances, this despot was pre
sented to the people as the defender of its rights. All the bene-

196 CONSIDERATIONS ON
fits acquired by the Revolution, benefits which France will ne
ver voluntarily renounce, were threatened by the continual im
prudences of the party which aims at making a conquest of
Frenchmen, as if they still were Gauls; and the part of the na
tion which most dreaded the return of the old government
thought they saw in Bonaparte the means of preserving them
selves from it. The most fatal combination that could over
whelm the friends of liberty was that a despot should put himself
in their ranks, be placed, as it were, at their head, and that
the enemies of all liberal ideas should have a pretext for
confounding popular violence with the evils of despotism, thus
making tyranny pass as if it were on the account of liberty her
self. The result of this fatal combination has been that the French
have incurred the hatred of sovereigns for desiring to be free,
and of nations for not knowing how to be so. Doubtless great
faults must have been committed to produce such a result;
but the reproaches provoked by these faults would plunge all
ideas into confusion, if we did not endeavour to show that the
French, like every other people, were victims of those cir
cumstances which produce great convulsions in the order of
society. If blame is at all events to be imputed, would there then be
nothing to say against those royalists who allowed the King to
be taken from them without drawing a single trigger in his de
fence ? They ought certainly to rally under the new institutions,
since it is evident that there remains to the aristocracy nothing
of its former energy. It was assuredly not because the men of
family were not, like all Frenchmen, of the most brilliant cou
rage ; but because they are ruined by their confidence as soon
as they become the stronger party, and by discouragement as
soon as they become the weaker : their blind confidence arises
from their having made a creed of politics ; and from their
trusting, like Turks, to the triumph of their faith. The cause
of their discouragement is, that three fourths ofthe French na
tion being at present in favour of the representative govern
ment, the adversaries of this system, so soon as they cease to

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 19.7
have six hundred thousand foreign bayonets in their service,
are in such a minority that they lose all hopes of defending
themselves. Were they willing to make a treaty with reason,
they would again become what they ought to be, the support
alternately of the people and of the throne.

!98 CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER XIV.
Of the Conduct of Bonaparte on his Return.
If it was a crime to recall Bonaparte, it was silliness to wish to
disguise such a man as a constitutional sovereign : from the
moment that he was taken back, a military dictatorship should
have been conferred on him, the conscription re-established,
the nation made to rise in mass so as not to be embarrassed
about liberty, when independence was at stake. Bonaparte
was necessarily lowered in public opinion, when made to hold
a language quite contrary to that which had been his during fif
teen years. It was clear that he could not proclaim principles
so different from those that he had followed when all-powerful,
but because he was forced to it by circumstances ; now what is
such a man when he allows himself to be forced? The terror
he inspired, the power resulting from that terror, no longer ex
isted ; he was a muzzled bear which, though still heard to mur
mur, is nevertheless obliged by his guides to dance as they
think proper. Instead of imposing the necessity of holding
constitutional language for whole hours together on a man who
had a horror of abstract ideas and legal restraints, he ought to
have been in the field four days after his arrival at Paris, be
fore the preparations of the allies were completed, and, above
all, while the astonishment caused by his return still shook the
imagination. His object should have been to excite the pas
sions of the Italians and Poles ; to promise the Spaniards to
expiate his faults by restoring to' them their Cortes; in short,
to take liberty as a weapon, not as an encumbrance.
Quiconque est loup, ftgisse en loup,
C'est le plus certain de beaucoup.
Some friends of liberty, endeavouring to pass anJllusion on
themselves, attempted to justify their renewed connexion with

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 199
Bonaparte by making him sign a free constitution ; but there
was no excuse for serving Bonaparte elsewhere than on the
field of battle. Foreigners, once at. the gates of France, should
have been prevented from entering it ; in that way only was
the esteem of Europe herself to be regained. But it was de
grading the principles of liberty to clothe in them a ci-devant
despot ; it was giving hypocrisy a place among the most sin
cere of human truths. In fact, how would Bonaparte have sup
ported the constitution which he was made to proclaim ? When
responsible ministers should have refused compliance with his
will, what would he have done with them ? and if these same
ministers had been severely accused by the deputies for having
obeyed him, how would he have restrained an involuntary mo
tion of his hand as a signal to his grenadiers to go a second
time and drive out, at the point of the bayonet, the representa
tives of another power than his own ?
What! this man would have read every morning in the
newspapers, insinuations on his faults, on his errors ! Sar
casms would have approached his imperial paw, and he have
withheld a blow ! He was accordingly often seen ready to re-
assume his true character; and since that character was such,
he could find strength only in showing it. Military Jacobin
ism, one of the greatest scourges of the world, was, if still
practicable, the only resource of Bonaparte. On his pronounc
ing the words Law and Liberty, Europe became tranquil ; she
felt that it was no longer her old and terrible adversary.
Another great fault that Bonaparte was made to commit, was
the establishment of a House of Peers. The imitation of the
English constitution, so often recommended, had at last taken
hold of the minds of the French, and, as always happens, they
carried the idea to an extreme ; for a peerage can no more be
created in a day than a dynasty ; hereditary rank for the future
stands in need of hereditary rank in the past. You can, doubt
less, I repeat it, associate new with old names; but the colour
of the past must blend with that of the present. Now what sig
nified that antechamber of peers in which all the courtiers of
Bonaparte took their places ? There were among them some

200 CONSIDERATIONS ON
very estimable men ; but others could be mentioned whose sons
would have desired to be spared their father's name, instead of
receiving an assurance of its continuance. What elements for
forming the aristocracy of a free country, such as should merit
the respect of the monarch as well as of the people ! A king,
entitled to voluntary respect, finds his security in national liber
ty ; but a dreaded chief, rejected by half the nation, and called
in by the other half only as an instrument of military success,
why should he aim at a kind of esteem which he could never
obtain ? Bonaparte, in the midst of all the shackles imposed on
him, was unable to display the genius which he still possessed :
he suffered things to proceed, he commanded no longer. His
discourse showed signs of a fatal presentiment, whether it was
that he thoroughly knew the strength of his enemies, or that he
was impatient of being no longer the absolute master of France.
That habit of dissimulation, which ever formed a part of his
character, ruined him on this occasion : he has played a part
the more with his accustomed facility ; but the circumstances
were too serious to allow him to get through it by cunning ;
and the undisguised action of his despotism and impetuosity
could alone give him even a momentary chance of success.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 201
CHAPTER XV.
Of the Fall of Bonaparte.
I have not yet spoken of that warrior who caused the fortune of
Bonaparte to fade ; of him who pursued him from Lisbon to
Waterloo, like that adversary of Macbeth who was to be endowed
with supernatural gifts, in order to be his conqueror. Those
supernatural gifts were the most noble disinterestedness, in
flexible justice, talents, whose source was in the soul, and an
army of free men. If any thing can console France for having
seen the English in the heart of her capital, it is that she will at
least have learned what liberty has made them.
The military genius of Lord Wellington could not have been
the work of the constitution of his country ; but his moderation,
the magnanimity of his conduct, the energy which he derived
from his virtues — these come from the moral atmosphere of
England ; and what crowns the. grandeur of that country and its
General, is, that while on the convulsed soil of France the ex
ploits of Bonaparte sufficed to make him an uncontrolled des
pot, he by whom he was conquered, he who has not yet com
mitted one fault, or lost one opportunity of triumph, Wellington,
will be in his own country only an unparalleled citizen, but
as subject to the law as the most obscure individual.
I will venture to a|^rm, however, that our France would not
perhaps have /alien, *had any other than Bonaparte been its
chief. He was extremely dexterous in the art of commanding an
army ; but he knew not how to rally a nation. The revolution
ary government itself understood better how to awaken enthu
siasm, than a man who could be admired only as an individual,
never as the defender of a sentiment or an idea. The soldiers
fought extremely well for Bonaparte ; but France did little for
him on his return. In the first place, there was a numerous
party against Bonaparte, a numerous party for the King, who
vol. ii. 26

202 -'considerations on
did not "consider it their duty to oppose foreign armies. But
even if every Frenchman could have been convinced, that in
any situation whatever the duty ofa citizen is to defend the in
dependence of his country, no one fights with all the energy of
which he is capable when the object is only to repel an evil,
not to obtain a good. The day after the triumph over the fo
reign troops we were certain of being enslaved in the interior.
The double power which would at once have repulsed the in
vader and overthrown the despot, existed no longer in a nation
that had preserved only military vigour, which is by no means
kindred with public spirit.
Besides, Bonaparte reaped even among his adherents the
bitter fruits of the doctrine which he had sown. The only thing
he had extolled was success ; chance and circumstance alone
called forth his praise ; whenever there was any question of
opinion, of devotedness, of patriotism, the dread he had ofthe
spirit of liberty excited him to turn every sentiment which could
lead to it into ridicule. But those were the only sentiments
which Could induce the perseverance which attaches itself to
misfortune ; those sentiments alone possess an electric power,
and form an association from one extremity of a country to the
other, without its being necessary even to communicate, in order
to be unanimous. If we examine the various interests of the
partisans of Bonaparte and of his adversaries, we shall explain
forthwith the motives of their differences of opinion. In the
SoUth, as in the North, the manufacturing towns were for him,
and the seaports against him, because the continental blockade
had favbured manufactures and destroyed commerce. All the
different classes of the defenders of the* Revolution might, in
some respects, prefer a chief whose want of legitimacy was itself
a security, since it placed him in opposition to the old political
doctrines ; but the character of Bonaparje is so adverse to free
institutions, that those among the partisans ofthe latter, who
thought proper to connect themselves with him, did not second
him with all their might, because they did not belong to him
with all their heart: they had an after thought and an after
hope, If, as is extremely doubtful, there still remained any

THE FRENCH REVOLU'BflJW.j
means of saving France, after she had pr%^^cES%9j^Jf'
could only be in a military dictatorship, or in th*FMp$&TTcan
form. But nothing was more insensate than to found a despe
rate resistance on a falsehood : you can never thus call forth all
the man.
The same system of egotism which always governed Bona
parte induced him to aim, at whatever cost, at a great victory,
instead of trying a defensive system, which would have better
suited France, especially if he had been supported by the pub
lic mind. But he arrived in Belgium, having, it is said^ in his
carriage, a sceptre, a robe, in short all the baubles of imperial
sway ; for the only thing he understood well was that kind of
pomp, mixed with a sort of quackery. When Napoleon return
ed to Paris after his lost battle, he had surely no idea of abdi
cating, and his intention was to demand from the two chambers
supplies of men and money, in order to try another struggle.
The legislature ought, in these circumstances, to have granted
every thing, rather than yield to the foreign powers. But if
the chambers were perhaps wrong in abandoning Bonaparte in
this extremity, what shall we say of the manner in which he
abandoned himself?
What ! this man, who had just convulsed Europe by his re
turn, sends in his resignation like a mere general, and does not
once attempt to resist! There is a French army under the walls
of Paris, that desired to fight the invaders, and he, is not in the
midst of it, as a chief, or as a soldier ! This army falls back
behind the Loire, and he crosses the Loire to embark where his
person may be in safety, while it was his own torch that had set
France in flames !
We cannot permit ourselves to accuse Bonaparte of wanting
courage in these circumstances, any more than in those of the
preceding year. He did not command the French army du
ring twenty years without having shown himself worthy of his
station. But there is a firmness of soul that conscience alone
can give ; and Bonaparte, instead of this decisive will, which is
independent of events, had a kind of superstitious faith in for
tune, which did not allow him to proceed without her auspices.

204 CONSIDERATIONS on
From the day he felt that misfortune had settled on his head,
he resisted no longer ; from the day his own destiny was over
thrown, he thought no more of the destiny of France. Bona
parte had confronted death with intrepidity in the field, but he
did not choose to inflict it on himself; and this resolution is not
without dignity. This man has lived to give the world a mo
ral lesson, the most striking, the most sublime, that nations have
ever witnessed ; it seems as if Providence has been pleased,
like a severe tragic poet, to make the punishment of this great
culprit arise out ofthe very crimes of his life.
Bonaparte, who, during ten years, had stirred up the world
against the most free and religious country which social order
in Europe has yet produced — against England, delivers himself
up into her hands ; he who, during ten years, had never ceased
to insult that nation, makes an appeal to her generosity ; in
short, he who never spoke of laws but with contempt, who so
lightly ordered arbitrary imprisonments, invokes the liberty of
England, and would use it as a shield. Ah ! why did he not
give that liberty to France ? Neither he nor the French would
then have been exposed to the mercy of conquerors.
Whether Napoleon live or die, whether he re-appear or not
on the continent of Europe, one single motive still leads me to
speak of him ; it is the ardent desire that the friends of liberty
should separate entirely their cause from his, and that they
should be careful not to confound the principles of the Revolu
tion with those of the imperial government. There is not, and
I believe 1 have proved it, a counter-revolution more fatal to
liberty than that which he accomplished. If he had been of an
old dynasty, he would have pursued equality with extreme ani
mosity, under whatever form it might have presented itself: he
paid his court to priests, to nobles, and to kings, in the hope of
being himself accepted as a legitimate monarch. It is true that
he sometimes made them the object of abuse, and that he did
them harm when he saw that he could not enter into the con
federation of past times ; but his inclinations were aristocratical
even to littleness. If the principles of liberty are destroyed in
Europe, it is only because he eradicated them from the mind of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 205
nations. He seconded despotism every where, by giving it
support in the hatred of the nations against France. He per
verted human intellect by imposing, during fifteen years, on his
pamphleteers, an obligation to write and display every system
which could mislead reason and stifle knowledge. To estab
lish liberty requires superior men in every 'department ; Bona
parte would have men of talents only in the military line ; and
never, under his reign, could a reputation be founded on the
management of civil business.
At the beginning of the Revolution, a crowd of illustrious
names did honour to France ; and it is one of the principal
characters of an enlightened age, to possess many distinguished
men, but hardly one superior to all the rest. Bonaparte sub
jugated the age in that respect, not because he was superior in
information, but, on the contrary, because he had something of
the barbarism of the middle ages. He brought from Corsica a
different age, different expedients, a different character, from
any thing that we had in France ; and even this novelty favour
ed his ascendency over the minds of men. Bonaparte is single
where he reigns, and no other distinction can be compatible
with his own.
Different opinions may be entertained of his genius and of
his qualities : there is about this man something enigmatical
which prolongs curiosity. Every one represents him under
different colours, and each may be right, according to the point
of view from which he beholds him ; those who would concen
trate his portrait in a few words, would give only a false idea
of him. To attain some general result, we must pursue differ
ent ways : it is a labyrinth, but a labyrinth that has a clue-
egotism. Those who knew him personally, may have found
him in domestic life possessing a kind of goodness which the
world certainly never perceived. The devoted attachment
of some truly generous friends is what speaks the most in his
favour. Time will bring to light the principal traits of his cha
racter ; and those who are willing to admire every extraordina
ry man, have a right to think him such. But he never could,
and never can, bring any thing but desolation on France.

206 CONSIDERATIONS ON
God preserve us then from him, and for ever ! But let us
beware of calling those men Bonapartists who support the
principles of liberty in France ; for with much more reason
might that name be given to the partisans of despotic power, to
those who proclaim the political maxims of the man they pro
scribe : their hatred of him is only a dispute about interests ; a
real love of generous sentiments forms no part of it.

fHE FRENCH REVOLUTION. $07

CHAPTER XVI.
Ofthe Declaration of Rights proclaimed by the Chamber of Re
presentatives, 5th July, 1815.
Bonaparte signed his second abdication on the 22d of June,
1815 ; and on the 8th of the following month, the foreign troops
entered the capital. During this very short interval, the parti
sans of Napoleon lost a great deal of precious time in trying to
secure, against the will of the nation, the crown to his son. Be
sides, the Chamber of Representatives contained a number of
men who would certainly not have been elected without the in
fluence of party spirit ; and yet it sufficed that, for the first time
during fifteen years, six hundred Frenchmen, elected in any
manner by the people, should be assembled together and deli
berate in public, in order that the spirit of liberty, and the ta
lent of speaking might re-appear. Men entirely new in the
career of politics spoke with distinguished ability : others, who
had not been heard of during the reign of Bonaparte, displayed,.
their early vigour, and yet, I repeat it, there were deputies in
that Chamber of whom the nation, if left to itself, would never
have made choice. But such is the strength of public opinion,
when men feel themselves in its presence, such is the enthusi
asm inspired by a forum where you are heard by all the enlight
ened men of Europe, that those sacred principles, obscured by
long years of despotism, re-appeared in less than a fortnight:
and in what circumstances did they appear ? When factions of
all kinds were kindled in the assembly itself, and when three
hundred thousand foreign soldiers were near the walls of
Paris. A bill of rights, for I have a pleasure on this occasion in mak
ing use of the English expression, which recalls only happy and
august recollections ; a bill of rights was proposed and carried

208 CONSIDERATIONS ON
in the midst of these disasters ; and in the few words we are
about to read, there exists an immortal power — -truth.*
I stop at this last act, which preceded, by a few days, the
complete invasion of France by foreign armies : it is there that
I finish my historical reflections. In fact there is no more a
France, so long as foreign armies occupy our territory. Let us
cast our eyes, before closing our task, towards those general
ideas which have guided us throughout the course of the work ;
and let us, if possible, present a picture of that England which
we have so often held up as a model to the legislators of France, •
by censuring them every time that they departed from it.
* The Author intended to have inserted here the Declaration of the Chamber of
Representatives, retrenching whatever was not in harmony with the principles pro
fessed in this work. This task is of too delicate a nature for the Editors to take on
themselves to complete it.
This chapter is evidently nothing but an outline. Notes in the margin ofthe ma
nuscript pointed out the principal facts of which Madame de Stael purposed treat-
lpg, and the distinguished names she meant to cite.

CHE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 209

PART VI.

CHAPTER I.
Are Frenchmen fnade to be Free ?
Frenchmen are not made to be fre*e, says a certain party cotri-
posed of Frenchmen who are pleased to do the honours of the
nation in such a way as to represent it as the most miserable of
all human associations. What indeed is more miserable than
to be incapable either of respect for justice, or of love for our
country, or of energy of mind ; virtues of which the whole — of
which any one singly, is sufficient to render a nation worthy of
liberty ? Foreigners do not fail to lay hoid of these expressions^
and to exalt themselves in their own opinion, as if they were of
a nobler race than the French. This ridiculous assertion, how
ever, means only one thing, that it suits certain privileged per
sons to be acknowledged as alone fitted to govern France with
wisdom, and thai the rest of the nation should be regarded as
factious. We shall examine, under a more philosophic and impartial
point of view, what is meant by a " people made to be free."
I would simply answer : it is a people who wish to be free ; for
I do not believe that history affords one example of the will of
a whole nation not being accomplished. The institutions of a
country, whenever they are below the degree of knowledge dif
fused throughout it, tend necessarily to raise themselves to the
same level. Now since the latter years of Louis XIV. down to
the French Revolution, spirit and energy have belonged to indi-<
viduals, while government has been on the decline. But it will
be said, that the French, during the Revolution, incessantly
vol. u. 27

210 CONSIDERATIONS ON
wandered between folly and crime. If it was so, this must be
attributed, I cannot too often repeat, to their former political
institutions ; for it was they that had formed the nation ; and if
they were of a nature to enlighten only one class of men, and
deprave the mass, they were certainly good for nothing. But
the sophistry of the enemies of human reason lies in their re
quiring that a people should possess the virtues of liberty be
fore they obtain liberty ; while it cannot acquire these virtues
till after having enjoyed liberty, since the effect cannot precede
the cause. The first quality of a nation that begins to be weary
of exclusive and arbitrary governments is energy. Other vir
tues can be only the gradual result of institutions which have
lasted long enough to form a public spirit.'
There have been countries, like ancient Egypt, in which reli
gion, being identified with policy, impressed a passive and sta
tionary character on the manners and habits of men. But, in
general, nations are seen to improve or to retrograde according
to the nature of their government. Rome has nowise changed
her climate, and yet, from the Romans to the Italians of our
days, we ean run through the whole scale of the modifications
which men undergo by diversity of government. Doubtless,
that which constitutes the dignity of a people is to know how to
give itself a suitable government ; but this work may encounter
great obstacles, and one of the greatest certainly is the coalition
of the old states of Europe to prevent the progress of new ideas.
We must then make an impartial estimate of its difficulties and
its efforts before deciding that a nation is not made to be free ;
which at bottom is a phrase devoid of meaning ; for, can there
exist men to whom security, emulation, the peaceable applica
tion of their industry, and the untroubled enjoyment of the
fruits of their labour are not suitable? And if a nation was
condemned by a curse of Heaven never lo practise either jus
tice or public morality, why should one part of this nation ac
count itself exempt from the curse pronounced on the race ? If
all are equally incapable of virtue, what part shall oblige the
other to possess it I

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 211
During twenty-five years, it will still be said, there has been
no government founded by the Revolution, which has not shown
itself mad or wicked. Be it so ; but the nation has been inces
santly agitated by civil troubles, and all nations in that situation
resemble each other. There exist in mankind dispositions
which always re-appear when the same circumstances callthem
forth. But if there is not an era of the Revolution in which
crime has not borne its part, neither is there one in which great
virtues have not been displayed. The love of country, the de
sire of securing independence at whatever cost, have been con
stantly manifested by the patriotic party ; and if Bonaparte had
not enervated public spirit by introducing a thirst for money
and for honours, we should have seen miracles performed by
the intrepid and persevering character of some of the men of
the Revolution. Even the enemies of new institutions, the
Vendeans, have exhibited the character which makes men free.
They will rally under liberty when liberty shall be offered them
in its true features. A keen resolution and an ardent spirit ex
ist, and will always exist, in France. There are powerful minds
among those who wish for liberty ; there are such among the
young men who are coming forward, some exempt from the
prejudices of their fathers, others innocent of their crimes.
When all is seen, when all is known of the history of a revolu
tion ; when the most active interests excite the most violent
passions, it seems to contemporaries that nothing equal to this
has stained the face of the earth. But when we recall the wars
ef religion in France, and the troubles of England, we perceive,
in a different form, the same party spirit, and the same crimes
produced by the same passions.
It seems to me impossible to separate the necessity of the im
provement of society from the desire of improving one's self;
and, to make use of the title of Bossuet's work, in a different
sense from that which he gives to it, policy is sacred because it
contains all the motives which actuate men in a mass, and ap
proximate them to, or remove them from virtue.
We cannot, however, conceal that people have as yet acquir
ed in France but few ideas of justice. They do not imagine

Hl'Z CONSIDERATIONS QN
that an enemy can have a right to the protection of the laws,
when he is conquered. But in a country where favour and
want of favour have so long disposed of every thing, how should
people know what principles are ? The reign of courts has
permitted the French to display only military virtues; a very
limited class were occupied in the management of civil affairs ;
and the mass of the nation having nothing to do, learned no
thing, and did not at all exercise itself in political virtues. One
of the wonders of English liberty is the number of men who oc-
pupy themselves with the interests of each town, of each pro
vince, and whose mind and character are formed by the occupa
tions and the duties of citizens. In France, intrigue was the
only field for exercising one's self, and a long time is necessary
fo enable us to forget that unhappy science.
The love of money, of titles, in short of all the enjoyments and
all the vanities of society, re-appeared under the reign of Bona
parte : these form the train of despotism. In the frenzy of de
mocracy corruption at least was of no avail ; and, even under
Bonaparte, several warriors have remained worthy, by their
disinterestedness, of the respect which foreigners have for their
courage. Without resuming here the unhappy history of our disasters,
let us say it boldly, there are, in the French nation, energy, pa
tience under misfortune, audacity in enterprise, in one word —
strength ; and its aberrations will always be to be dreaded un
til free institutions convert a part of this strength into virtue.
Certain common-place ideas put in circulation are often what
most mislead the good sense of the public, because the majority
of men receive them for truths. There is so little merit in find
ing them that one is induced to think that -reason alone can
make them be adopted by so many persons. But in party times
the same interests inspire the same assertions, without their ac
quiring more truth when a hundred times repeated.
The French, it is said, are frivolous, the English serious ; the
French are quick, the English grave ; the former, therefore,
piust be governed despotically, and the latter enjoy liberty. It
is certain that, if the English were still contending for this liber-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 213
ty, people would find in them a thousand defects that would
stand in its way ; but the fact among thenl refutes the argu
ment. In our France troubles are apparent, while the motives
of these troubles can be comprehended only by reflecting minds.
The French are frivolous because they have been doomed to a
kind of government which could not be supported, but by en
couraging frivolity ; and as to quickness, the French possess it
much more in the mind than in the temper. There exists
among the English an impetuosity of a much more violent na
ture, and their history exemplifies it in a multitude of cases.
Who could have believed, two centuries ago, that a regular go
vernment could ever have been established among these fac
tious islanders ? The uniform opinion at that time on the Con
tinent was, that they were incapable of it. They have deposed,
killed, overturned more kings, more princes, and more govern
ments than the rest of Europe together ; and yet they have at
last obtained the most noble, the most brilliant, and most reli
gious order of society that exists in the ancient hemisphere.
Every country, every people, every man, are fit for liberty by
their different qualities ; all attain, or will attain it in their own
way. But before endeavouring to delineate the admirable monu
ment of the moral greatness of man presented to us by England,
let us cast a glance on some periods of her history similar in
all respects to that of the French Revolution. People may per
haps become reconciled with the French on seeing in them thp
English of yesterday.

214 CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER II.
Cursory View of the History of England.
It is painful to me' to represent the English character in a
disadvantageous light, even in past times. But this generous
Dation will listen without pain to all that reminds it that it is to
its actual political institutions, to those institutions which it is in
the power of other nations to imitate, that it owes its virtues
and its splendour. The puerile vanity of believing themselves
a separate race is certainly not worth, in the eyes of the Eng
lish, the honour of encouraging mankind by their example.
No people in Europe can be put on a parallel with the English
since 1688; there are a hundred and twenty years of social
improvement between them and the Continent. True liberty,
established for more than a century among a great people, has
produced the results which we witness ; but in the preceding
history of this people, there is more violence, more illegality,
and, in some respects, a still greater spirit of servitude than
among the French.
The English always quote Magna Charta as the most honour
able title of their ancient genealogy as free men ; and, in truth,
such a contract between a nation and its king is an admirable
thing. So early as the year 1215, personal liberty, and the
trial by jury, are declared there in terms which might be used
in our days. At this same period ofthe middle age there was,
as we have mentioned in the Introduction, a movement of liber
ty throughout Europe. But knowledge, and the institutions
created by knowledge, not being yet diffused, there resulted no
thing stable from this movement in England until 1688, that is,
nearly five centuries after Magna Charta, During all this pe
riod the charter was subject to incessant infractions. The suc
cessor of him who had signed it (Henry III. the son of John)
made war on his barons to release himself from the promises o

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 215
his father. The barons had on this occasion favoured the peo
ple, that they might find support in the people against the
authority of the king. Edward I., the successor of Henry III.,
swore eleven times to maintain the great charter, which proves
that he still oftener violated it. Neither kings nor nations ob
serve political oaths, except when the nature of things is such
as to command sovereigns and satisfy the people. William the
Conqueror had dethroned Harold ; the House of Lancaster, in
its turn, overset Richard II., and the act of election which called
Henry IV. to the throne, was sufficiently liberal to be after
wards imitated by Lord Somers in 1688. On the accession of
Henry IV., in 1399, attempts were made to renew the great
Charter, and the King at last promised to respect the franchises
and liberty of the nation. But the nation did not then know
how to make herself respected. The war with France, the in
testine wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, gave
rise to the most sanguinary scenes, and no history exhibits so
many violations of individual liberty, so many executions, so
many conspiracies of every kind. The result was, that in the
time of the famous Warwick, the " king-maker," a law was
passed, enjoining obedience to the actual sovereign, whether
rightfully so or not, in order to avoid the arbitrary judicial
condemnations to which changes in government necessarily
gave rise.
Next came the House of Tudor, which, in the person of Hen
ry VII., united the rights of York and Lancaster. The nation
was weary of civil war : the spirit of servitude succeeded, for a
time, the spirit of faction. Henry VII., like Louis XI., and Car
dinal Richelieu, subjected the nobility, and found means to es
tablish the most complete despotism. Parliament, which has
since been the sanctuary of liberty, served at that time only to
sanction the most arbitrary acts by a false appearance of nation
al consent ; for there is not a better instrument of tyranny than
an assembly when it is degraded. Flattery conceals itself under
the appearance of general opinion, and fear, felt in common,
almost resembles courage : so much do men animate each other
in an enthusiasm for power. Henry VIII. was still mere des-

216 CONSIDERATIONS ON
potic than his father, and more lawless in his desires* The
Reformation, as far as he adopted it, served him surprisingly to
persecute both orthodox Catholics and sincere Protestants. He
hurried on the English parliament to the most humiliating acts
of servitude. It was the parliament which took charge of the
processes brought against the innocent wives of Henry VIIL
It was it which solicited the honour of condemning Catherine
Howard, declaring there was no need of the royal sanction lo
bring a bill of impeachment against her, that they might save
the King, (her husband,) as they said, the pain of trying her.j
Thomas More, one of the most noble victims of the tyranny of
Henry VIII., was accused by parliament, as well as all those
whose death the King desired. The two houses pronounced it
a crime of high-treason not to regard the King's marriage with
Anne of Cleves as legally dissolved ; and parliament, stripping
itself of power, decreed that the King's proclamations should
have the force of law, and that they should be considered as
having even the authority of revelation in mafters of faith ; for -
Henry VIII. had made himself the head of the church in Eng
land, even while preserving the Catholic doctrine. It was then
necessary to shake off the supremacy of Rome without exposing
himself to the charge of heresy. It was at this time that the
sanguinary law of the Six Articles was passed, a law which es
tablished the points of doctrine to which it was necessary to
conform : the real presence ; the communion in one element ;
the inviolability of monastic vows ; (notwithstanding the abolition
of convents ;) the utility of private mass ; the celibacy of the
clergy ; and the necessity of auricular confession. Whoever
did not admit the first point was burned as a heretic ; and he
who rejected the five others was put to death as a felon. Par
liament thanked the King for the divine study, for the labour
and the pains which his majesty had bestowed on the composi
tion of this law.
Yet Henry VIII. opened the path to the religious reforma
tion. It was introduced into England by his guilty amours, as
Magna Charta had owed its existence to the crimes of John.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 21 T
It is thus that ages advance, proceeding unconsciously towards
the object of human destiny.
Parliament, under Henry VIII., did violence to the conscience
as well as to the person. It ordered, under pain of death, that
the King should be considered the head of the church ; and all,
who refused to acknowledge this, perished martyrs to their
courage. Parliaments changed the religion of England four
times. They consecrated the schism of Henry VIII., and the
protestantism of Edward VI. ; and when Queen Mary caused old
men, women and children to be cast into the flames, hoping thus
to please her fanatic husband ; even these atrocities were sanc
tioned by a parliament lately protestant.
. The reformation re-appeared with Elizabeth, but the spirit
ofthe people and of parliament was not the less servile. That
queen had all the grandeur which despotism, conducted with
moderation, can confer. The reign of Elizabeth in England
may be compared to that of Louis XIV. in France.
Elizabeth had more capacity than Louis XIV., and finding
herself at the head of protestantism, the principle of which is
toleration, she could not, like the French monarch, join fanati
cism to absolute power. Parliament, which had compared
Henry VIII. to Samson for strength, to Solomon for prudence,
and to Absalom for beauty, sent its speaker to declare, on his
knees, to Queen Elizabeth, that she was a divinity. But, not con
fining itself to these insipid servilities, it stained itself with a san
guinary flattery in seconding the criminal hatred of Elizabeth
against Mary Stuart; calling for the condemnation of her enemy,
and wishing thus to remove from the Queen the shame ofa mea
sure which she desired; but it only dishonoured itself in her
train. The first king of the house of Stuart, equally weak, but more
regular in . his morals than the successor of Louis XIV., pro
fessed constantly the doctrine of absolute power, without having
in his character the means of supporting it. Information was
spreading in all directions. The impulse given to the human
mind at the beginning of the sixteenth century was ,diffu.sing it
self more and more; religious reform fermented in every mind.
At last burst out the revolution under Charles I.
vol. n. 28

218 CONSIDERATIONS ON
The ^principal points of analogy between the revolutions of
England and France are ; a king brought to the scaffold by the
spirit of democracy, a military chief getting possession of pow
er, and the restoration of the old dynasty. Although religious
and political reform have many things in common, yet when the
principle thatt puts men in movement is in anywise connected
with what they deem their duty, they preserve more morality
than when their impulse has no other motive than a desircof
recovering their rights. The passion for equality was, how
ever, so great in England, that the King's daughter, the prin
cess of Gloucester, was put apprentice to a mantua-maker.
Several traits of this kind, equally strange, might be quoted,
although the management of public affairs during- the revolu
tion of England did not descend into such coarse hands as in
France. The Commons, having earlier acquired importance
hy trade, were more enlightened. The nobility, who had at all
times joined the Commons against the usurpations of the throne*
did not form a separate caste as among the French. The
blending of occupations which does not prevent the distinction
of ranks had existed for. a length of time. In England, the no
bility of the second class was joined to the Commons.* The
families of peers alone were apart, while in France one knew
not where to find the nation, and every one was impatient to
get out of the mass, that he might enter into the privileged class.
Without entering on religious discussions, it cannot be denied
* I quote here the text of an address ofthe commons under James I., which is an
evident demonstration of this truth.
Declaration ofthe House of Commons in regard -to its privileges, drawn up by a com
mittee chosen to present that address to James 1} ¦
The Commons of this realm contain not only the citizens, burgesses, and yeo
manry, but also the whole inferior nobility ofthe kingdom, knights, squires, and
gentlemen, many of which are come immediately out of the most noble families ;
and some others of their worth advanced to the high honour of your Majesty's privy
council, and otherwise have been employed in very honourable service ; in sum,
the sole persons of the higher nobility excepted, they contain the whole power and
flower of your kingdom ;, first, with their bodies your wars ; secondly, with their
purses your treasures are upheld and supplied ; thirdly, their hearts are the strength
and stability of your royal seat. All these, amounting to many millions of people,
are representatively present in us ofthe House of Commons.

THE FRENCH ftEVOLUTlof. 219
that the opinions of the protestants, being founded on inquiry,
are more favourable to knowledge, and to the spirit of liberty,
than the catholic religion,- which decides every thing by audio-1
rity, and considers kings equally infallible with popes, unless
popes happen to be at war with kings. Lastly, and it is here
that we must admit the advantages of an insular position, Crom-'
well conceived no projects of conquest on the Continent ; he
excited no anger on the part of crowned heads, who did not
consider themselves threatened by the political experiments of
a country that had no immediate communication with continen
tal ground. Still less did the nations take part in the quarrel;
and the English had the remarkable good fortune of neither pro
voking foreigners, nor calling in their aid.
The English say with truth that in their last civil troubles
they had nothing that bore a resemblance to the eighteen months
of the reign of terror in France. But, in viewing the whole of
their history, we shall find three kings deposed and put to death,
Edward II., Richard II. , and Henry VI. ; one king assassinated,
Edward V. ; . Mary of Scotland, and Charles I.," perishing on
the scaffold ; princes of the blood royal dying a violent death ;
judicial assassinations in greater number than in all the rest of
Europe together ; along with I know not what of harsh and fac
tious, which hardly indicated the public and private virtues of
which England has afforded an example for a century past.
Doubtless, it would be impossible to keep an open account of
the vices and virtues of both nations ; but in studying the histo
ry of England, we do not begin to see the English character,
such as it rises progressively to our eyes since the foundation
of liberty, except in a few men at the time of the Revolution,
and under the Restoration. The era of the return of the Stuarts,
and the changes accomplished on their expulsion, again offer
new proofs ofthe all-powerful influence of political institutions
on the character of nations. Charles II. and James II. reign
ed, the one in an arbitrary, the other in a tyrannical manner ;
and the same acts of injustice which had sullied the history of
England in earlier ages, were renewed at a period when know
ledge had made a very great progress. But despotism prpdu-

220 * CONSIDERATIONS ON
ces in every country, and in every time, nearly the same re
sults ; it brings back darkness in the midst of day. The most
noble friends of liberty, Russel and Sydney, perished under the
reign of Charles II. ; and a number of other persons of less ce
lebrity were, in like manner, unjustly condemned to death.
»Russel refused to redeem his life on condition of acknowledging
that resistance to the sovereign, however despotic he may be, is
contrary to the Christian religion. Algernon Sidney said, on
mounting the scaffold, " I come here to die for the good old
cause, which 1 have cherished since my infancy." The day
after his death there were found writers who attempted to ridi
cule these beautiful and simple words. Flattery of the basest
, kind, that which surrenders the rights of nations to the good
pleasure of sovereigns, was exibited in all quarters. The uni
versity of Oxford condemned all the principles of liberty, and
showed itself a thousand times less enlightened in the seven
teenth century than the barons in the beginning of the thirteenth.
It proclaimed that there existed no mutual contract, either ex
press or implied, between nations and their kings. It was a
town destined to be a centre of learning that sent forth this de
claration which placed a man above all laws, divine and human,
without imposing on him either duties or restraints. Locke,
then a young man, was expelled from the university for having
refused his adherence to these servile doctrines : so true it is
that men of reflection, whatever be the object of their occupa
tion, are always agreed in regard to the dignity of human
nature. * \
Parliament, although very obsequious, was still an object of
dread ; and Louis XIV. feeling, with remarkable sagacity, that
a free constitution would give great strength to England, bribed
not only the ministry but, the King himself, to prevent the es
tablishment of such a constitution. It was not, however, from
the dread of example that he wished to see no liberty in Eng
land. France was at that time too remipte from any spirit of
resistance to give him the least disquietude ; it was solely, and
the diplomatic documents prove it, because he considered a re
presentative government as a source of wealth and power to the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 221
English. He caused 200,000/. to be offered to Charles II., if
he would become a convert to the catholic faith, and convoke
no more parliaments. Charles II;, and after him James II.,
accepted these subsidies, without venturing to adhere to all fhe
conditions. The prime ministers, the wives of these prime
ministers, received presents from the ambassador of France, on
promising to render England submissive to the influence of
Louis XIV. Charles II. would have desired, it is said in the
negotiations published by Dalrymple, to bring over French
troops into England, that they might be employed against the
friends of liberty. We cannot easily persuade ourselves of
the truth of these facts when we know the England of the eigh
teenth and nineteenth centuries. There were still remains of
a Spirit of independence among some members of parliament ;
but as the, liberty of the press did not support them in ihe pub
lic opinion, they could not oppose the strength of that opinion to
the strength of government. The law of Habeas Corpus, on
which individual liberty is founded; was passed under Charles
II., and yet there never were more violations of that liberty than ;
under his reign, for laws without security are of Uo avail.
Charles II. made the towns surrender to him all their privileges, j
all their particular charters ; nothing is so easy to a central au
thority, as to overthrow each separate part in succession. The
judges, to please the King, gave to the crime of high treason a
greater extension than what had been fixed three centuries be-
fore, under the reign of Edward III. To this serious tyranny
was joined as much corruption, as much frivolity, as French
men can be reproached with at any period. The English wri
ters, the English poets, who are now animated by the truest
sentiments, and the purest virtues, were under Charles II. cox
combs, sometimes melancholy, but always immoral. Roches
ter, Wycherley, above all, Cpngreve, drew pictures of human
life which appear parodies on the infernal regions. In some of
these pictures the sons jest on the old age of their fathers; in
others, the younger brothers long for the- death of their eldest
brother; marriageus there treated according to the maxims of
Beaumarchais : but there is no gayety in these saturnalia of

222 CONSIDERATIONS ON
vice ; the most corrupt men cannot laugh at the sight of a World
in which even the wicked could not make their way. Fashion,
which is still the weakness of the English in small matters, tri
fled at that time with whatever was most important in life.
Charles If. had over his court, and his court had over his peo
ple, the influence which the Duke of Orleans exercised fn his
regency over France. And when we see in English galleries
the portraits of the. mistresses of this King, arranged methodi
cally together, we cannot persuade ourselves that little more
than a century has yet passed since so depraved a frivolity se
conded the most absolute power among Englishmen. Finally,
James II., who made an open declaration of the opinions which
Charles II. introduced by underhand practices, reigned during
three years, with a tyranny happily without moderation, since
it was to his very excesses that the nation was indebted' for the
peaceful and wise revolution on which its liberty was founded.
Hume, the historian, a Scotsman, a partisan of the. Stuarts, and
a defender of royal prerogative in the way in which an enlight
ened man can be so, has rather softened than exaggerated the
crimes committed by the agents of James II. I insert here on
ly a few of the traits of this reign in the way they are related by
Hume. "Such arbitrary principles had the court instilled into all its
servants, that Feversham, immediately after the victory, hanged
above twenty prisoners ; and was proceeding in his executions,
when the Bishop of Bath and Wells warned him that these un
happy men were now by-law entitled to a trial, and that their
execution would be deemed a real murder. This remonstrance,
however, did not stop the savage nature of Colonel Kirke, a sol
dier of fortune, who had long served at Tangiers, and had con
tracted, from his intercourse with the Moors, an inhumanity less
known in European and in free countries. At his first entry
into Bridgewater, he hanged nineteen prisoners, without the
leastinquiry into the merits of their cause. As if to make sport
with death, he ordered a certain number to be executed, while
he and his company should drink' the King's health, or the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 223
Queen's, or that of Chief . Justice Jefferies,. Observing their
feet to quiver in the agonies of death, he cried that he would
give them music to their dancing, and he immediately com
manded the drums to. beat and the trumpets to sound. - By way
of experiment, he ordered one man to be hung up three times,
questioning him at each interval, whether, he. repented of his
crime :, but the man obstinately asserting that,, notwithstanding
the past, he still would willingly engage in the same cause*
Kirke ordered him to be hung in chains. . One story, commonly
told of him, is memorable for the treachery,, as well as barba
rity, which attended it. A young maid pleaded for the life of
her brother, and flung herself at Kirke's feet, armed with all the
charms which_beauty and innocence, bathed in tears, could be
stow upon her. The tyrant was inflamed with desire, not soft
ened into love or clemency. He promised to grant her request,-
provided that she, in her turn, would be equally compliant to
him. The maid yielded to the conditions : but, after she had
passed the night with him, the wanton savage the next morn
ing showed her, from the window, her brother, the darling ob
ject for whom she had sacrificed her virtue, hanging on a jibbet,
which he. had secretly ordered to be there erected for the exe
cution. Rage and despdir and indignation took possession of
her mind, and deprived her for ever of her senses. - All the in
habitants of that country, innocent as well as guilty* were ex
posed to the ravages of this barbarian. The soldiery were let
lopse to live at free quarters ; and his own regiment, instructed
by his. example, and encouraged by his exhortations, distin
guished themselves in a particular manner by their outrages.
By way of pleasantry he used to call them his lambs ; an appel
lation which was long remembered with horror in the west of
England. " The violent Jefferies succeeded after some interval ; and
showed the people, that the rigours of law might equal, if not
exceed, the ravages of military tyranny. This man, who wan
toned in cruelty, had already given a specimen of his character <•
in many trials where he presided ; and he now set out with a
savage joy, as to a full harvest of death and destruction. He

224 CONSIDERATIONS ON
began at Dorchester ;, and thirty rebels being arraigned, he ex
horted them, but in vain, to save him, by their free confession,
the trouble of trying them : And when twenty-nine were found
guilty, he ordered them, a.s an additional punishment of their
disobedience, to be led to immediate execution. Most of the
other prisoners, terrified with this example, pleaded guilty ;
and no less than two hundred and ninety-two received sentence
at Dorchester. Of these, eighty were executed. Exeter was
the next stage of his cruelty ; two hundred and forty-three were
tried, of whom a great number were condemned and executed.
He also opened his commission at Taunton and Wells ; and
every where carried consternation along with him. The juries
were so struck with his menaces, that they gave their verdict
with precipitation ; and many innocent persons, it is said, were
involved with the guilty. And on the whole, besides those who
were butchered by the military commanders, two hundred and
fifty-one are computed to have fallen by the hand of justice.
The whole country was strewed with the heads and limbs of
traitors. Every village almost beheld the dead carcass of a
wretched inhabitant. And all the rigours of justice, unabated
by any appearance of clemency, were fully displayed to the
people by the inhuman Jefferies.
"Of all -ihe executions, during this dismal period, the most
remarkable were those of Mrs. Gaunt and Lady Lisle, who had
been accused of harbouring traitors. Mrs. Gaunt was an ana
baptist, noted for her beneficence, which she extended to per
sons of all professions and persuasions. One of the rebels,
knowing her humane disposition, had recourse to her in his dis
tress, and was concealed by heri Hearing of the proclamation,
which offered an indemnity and rewards to such as discovered
criminals, he betrayed his benefactress, and bore evidence
against her. He received a pardon as a recompense for his
treachery ; she was burned alive for her charity.
" Lady Lisle was widow of one of the regicides who had en
joyed great favour and authority under Cromwell, and who hav
ing fled, after the restoration, to Lauzanne in Swisserland, was
there assassinated by three Irish ruffians, who hoped to make

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 225
their fortune by this piece of service. His widow was now pro
secuted for harbouring two rebels the day after the battle of
Sedgemoor ; and Jefferies pushed on the trial with an unrelentr
ing violence. In vain did the aged prisoner' plead, that these
criminals had been put into no proclamation; had been con
victed by no verdict; nor could any man be denominated
a traitor, till the sentence of some legal court was passed upon
him: That it appeared not by any proof, that she was so
much as acquainted with the guilt of the persons, or had heard
of their joining the rebellion of Monmouth : That though she
might be obnoxious on account of her family, it was well known,
that her heart was ever loyal, and that no person in England
had shed more tears for that tragical event, in which her hus
band had unfortunately borne too great a share : and that the
same principles, which she herself had ever embraced, she had
carefully instilled into her son, and had, at that very time, sent
him to fight against those rebels whOm she was now accused
of harbouring. Though these arguments did not move Jefferies,
they had influence on the jury. Twice they seemed inclined
to bring in a favourable verdict; they were as often sent back
with menaces and reproaches ; and at last were constrained to
give sentence against the prisoner. Notwithstanding all ap
plications for pardon, the cruel sentence was executed. The
King said, that he had given Jefferies a promise not to pardon
her. " Even those multitudes, who received pardon, were obliged
to atone for their guilt by fines, which reduced them to begga
ry ; or, where their former poverty made them incapable of
paying, they were condemned to cruel whippings or severe im
prisonments.  The people might have been willing on this
occasion to distinguish between the King and his ministers ; but
care was taken to prove, that the latter had done nothing but
what was agreeable to their master. Jefferies, on his return,
was immediately, for those eminent services, created a peer ;
and was soon after vested with the dignity of chancellor."
Such were the sufferings' which a king could impose on Eng
lishmen, and such was the treatment which they supported. It
vol. n. 29

206 CONSIDERATIONS QN
was in 1686 that England exhibited to Europe such examples'
of barbarity and servility ; and two years after, -when James II.
was deposed and the constitution established; began that period
of one hundred and twenty-eight years down to our days, in
which a single session of parliament has not passed without
adding some improvement to the state of society.
James If. was highly culpable ; yet we cannot deny that
there was treason in the manner in which he was abandoned.
His daughters deprived him of the crown. The persons who.
had professed for him the greatest attachment, and who owed
him the greatest gratitude, forsook him. The officers broke
tbpir oath ; but success having, according to an English epi
gram, excused this treason, it no longer bore the name.*
William III. was a statesman possessedlof firmness and saga-r
city, accustomed, by his situation of Stadtholder in Holland, to,
respect liberty, whether he naturally liked it or not. Queen
Anne, whp succeeded him, was a woman without talents, and
with no strong attachments but to prejudices. Although in pos
session of a throne which, according to the principles of legiti
macy, she ought to have relinquished to her brother, she pre
served a predilection for the doctrine of divine right ; and al
though the party of the friends of liberty had made her queen,
she always felt an involuntary disinclination to them. Yet po
litical institutions were by this time acquiring so much strength,
that, abroad as at home, this reign was one of the most glorious
in the annals of England. The house of Hanover completed
the securities of religious and political reform ; yet, till after the
battle of Culloden, in 1746, the spirit of faction often got the
better of the spirit of justice. A price of 30,000/s was put on
the head of Prince Edward, and, much as people feared for
liberty, they had difficulty in resolving on the only manner of
establishing it, that is, on respecting principles, whatever be
the circumstances of the moment.
But if we read with care the reign of the three Georges, we
* Treason does never prosper > what's the reason I
Why, when it prospers, none dare call it treason.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 227
shall see that, during that period, morality and liberty have
been in a course of uninterrupted advancement. What a beau
tiful .spectacle is this constitution, unsteady on leaving its har
bour, like a vessel launched into the sea, and at last spreading
wide its sails and giving a spring to all that is great and. gene
rous in the human mind ! I know that the, English will assert
that they have at all times had a stronger spirit of liberty than
the French; that from the time of Caesar they repelled the Ro
man yoke ; and that the code of these Romans, composed un
der the emperors, was never introduced into the English. laws :
it is equally true that by adopting the Reformation, the English
founded at once morality and liberty on a firmer basis. The
clergy, having always sat in parliament along with the lay
lords, had no distinct power in the state, and the English nobi
lity showed themselves more factious, but less of courtiers, than
the nobility of France. These differences are, it cannot be
denied, to the advantage of England. In France, the beauty
of the climate, the relish for society, all that embellishes life,
operated in favour of arbitrary power, as in the countries of
the^ south, in which the pleasures of existence are sufficient for
man. , But as soon as the call for liberty takes possession of
the mind, even the defects with Which the French are reproach
ed, their vivacity, their self-love, attach them more to what
they haye determined to conquer. They are the third people,
reckoning the Americans, who are making the trial of a repre*
sentative government, and the example of their predecessors
begins at- last to guide them. In whatever way we consider
each nation, we find in it always that which will render a repre
sentative government not only possible but necessary. Let us
then examine the influence of that government in the country
which had first the glory of establishing it.

228 CONSIDERATIONS Off

CHAPTER III.
Of the Prosperity of England, and1 the ¦ Causes ,by which it has
' been hitherto promoted.
In the year 1813, the ^English had been twenty-one years at
war with France, and for some time the whole Continent had
been in arms against them. Even America, from political cir
cumstances foreign to the interests of Europe, made a part Of
this universal coalition. During several years the respectable
monarch of Great Britain was no longer in possession of his in
tellectual faculties. The great men in the civil career, Pitt
and Fox, were now no more, and no one had. yet succeeded to
their reputation. No historical name could be cited at the head
of affairs, and Wellington alone attracted the attention of Eu
rope. Some ministers, several members of the Opposition,
lawyers, men of science and literature, enjoyed a great share of
the public esteem ; and if, on the one hand, France, in bending
beneath the yoke of one man, had. seen the reputation of indi
viduals disappear ; on the other, there was so much ability, in
formation, and merit among the English, that it had become ve
ry difficult to take the first rank amidst this illustrious crowd.
On my arrival in England, no particular person was present
to my thoughts : I knew scarcely any one in that country ; but
I went there with confidence. I was persecuted by an enemy
of liberty, and therefore believed myself sure of an honourable
sympathy in a country where every institution was .'in harmony
with my political sentiments. I reckoned also greatly on my
father's memory as a protection, and I was, not deceived. The
billows ofthe North Sea, which I crossed in going from Swe
den, still filled me with dread, when I perceived at a distance
the verdant isle that had alone resisted the subjugation of Eu
rope. Yet it contained only a population of twelve millions;
for the five or six additional millions which compose the popu-

THE1 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2&§
lation of Ireland, had often, during the course of the last war,
been a prey to intestine divisions. Those who will not ac
knowledge the ascendency of liberty in the power of England
are perpetually repeating that the English would have been
vanquished by Bonaparte, like every continental nation, if they
had not been protected by the sea. This opinion cannot be re
futed by experience;. but I have no doubt that if, by a stroke
of the Leviathan, Great Britain had been joined to the Euro
pean continent, she would indeed have suffered more ; her
wealth would, bo doubt, have been diminished ; but the; public
spirit ofa free nation is such, that it would never have submitted
to the yoke of foreigners.
v When I landed in England, in the month of June, 1813, in
telligence had just arrived of the armistice concluded between
the Allied Powers and Napoleon. He was at Dresden, and it
was still in his power to reduce himself to the miserable lot'of
being Emperor of France as far as the Rhine, and King of Italy.
It was probable thatjEngland would not subscribe to this trea
ty; her position was therefore far from being favourable: A
long war menaced her anew ; her finances appeared exhausted ;
at least if we were to judge of her resources according to those
of every other country of the world.. The bank-note, serving
instead of coin, had fallen one fourth on the Continent; and if
this paper had not been supported. by the patriotic spirit ofthe
nation, it would have involved the ruin of public and private
affairs. The French newspapers, comparing the state of the
finances of the two countries, always represented England as
overwhelmed with debt, and France as mistress of considerable
treasure. The comparison Was true ; but it was necessary; to
add, that England had the disposal of unbounded resources by
her credit,, while, the French Government possessed only the
gold which it held in its hands. France could levy millions in
contributions on oppressed Europe ; but her despotic Sovereign
could not have succeeded in a voluntary loan.
From Harwich to London you travel by a high road of nearly
seventy miles, which is bordered, almost without interruption,
by countpy houses on both sides ; it is a succession of habita-

230 CONSIDERATIONS ON
tions with gardens, interrupted by towns; almost all the people
are well clad ; scarcely a cottage is in decay, and even the ani
mals have something peaceful and comfortable about them, as if
there were rights for them also in this great edifice of social or
der. The price of every thing is necessarily very high; but
these prices are for the most part fixed : there is such an aver
sion in that country to what is arbitrary, that when there is no
positive law, there is first a rule, and next a custom, to secure,
as far as possible, something positive and fixed, even in the
smallest details. The dearness of provisions, occasioned by
enormous taxes, is, no doubt, a great evil ; but if the war was
indispensable, what other than this nation, that is, this consti
tution, could have sufficed for its expenses ? Montesquieu is
right in remarking, that free countries pay far more taxes than
those who are governed despotically : but we have not yet as
certained, though the example of England might have taught
us, the extent of the riches of a pepple who consent to- what
they give, and consider public affairs as their own. Thus the
English nation, far from having lost by twenty years of war,
gained in every respect, even in the midst of the Continental
blockade. Industry, become more active and ingenious, made
up in an astonishing manner for the want of those productions
which could no longer be drawn from the Continent. Capitals,
excluded from commerce, were employed in the cultivation of
waste lands, and in agricultural improvements in various coun
ties. The number of. houses was every where increased,, and
the extension of London, within a few years, is scarcely credi
ble. If one branch of commerce fell, another arose forthwith.
Men whose property was increased T)y the rise of land appro
priated a large portion of their revenue to establishments of pub
lic charity. When' the Emperor Alexander*arrived in England,
surrounded by the multitude, who fek so natural an eagerness
to see him, he inquired where the lower orders were, because
he found himself surrounded only by men, dressed like the bet
ter class in other countries. The extent. of what is done in
England by private subscription is enormous : hospitals, houses
of education, missions, Christian societies, were not. only sup.-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 231
ported, but multiplied during the war; and foreign countries
who felt its disasters, the Swiss, the Germans, and the Dutch,
were perpetually receiving from England private aid, the pro
duce of voluntary gifts. When the town of Leyden was almost
half destroyed by the explosion ofa vessel laden with gunpow
der, the English flag was sopn after seen to appear on the coast
of Holland ; and as the Continental blockade existed at that
time in all its rigour, the people on the coast thought themselves
obliged to fire on this perfidious vessel : she then hoisted a flag
of truce, and made known that she brought a considerable sum
for the people of Leyden, ruined by their recent misfortune.
But to what are we to attribute all these wonders of a gene
rous prosperity ? to liberty ; that is, to the confidence of the na
tion in a government which makes the first principle of its finan
ces consist in publicity; in a government enlightened by dis
cussion, and by the liberty of the press. The nation, which
cannot be deceived under such a state of things, knows the use
ofthe taxes which it pays, and public credit supports the ama
zing weight of the English debt. If, without departing from
proportions, any thing similar were tried in the governments of
the European continent -that are not representative, not a se
cond step could be made in such an enterprise. Five hundred
thousand proprietors of public stock form a great guarantee for
the payment of the debt, in a country where the opinion and in
terest of every man possess influence. Justice, which in mat
ters of credit is synonymous with ability, is carried so far in
England that the dividends due to French proprietors were not
confiscated there, even when all English property was seized in
France. The foreign stockholder was not even made to pay
an income tax on his dividends, though that tax was paid by
the English themselves. This complete good faith, the perfec
tion of policy, is the basis of the finances of England ; and the
confidence in the duration of this good faith is connected with
political institutions. A change in the ministry, whatever it
may be, occasions no prejudice to credit, since the national re
presentation and publicity render all dissimulation impractica-

232 CONSIDERATIONS ON
ble. Capitalists who lend their money are of all people in the
world the mast difficult to deceive.
There still exist old laws in England which cause some ob
stacles to different enterprises of industry in the interior; but
some are progressively abolished, and others are fallen into dis
use. Thus every one creates resources for himself, and no
man, endowed with any activity, can be in England without
finding the means of acquiring property by doing that which
contributes to the good of the state. The government never
interferes in what can be equally well done by individuals : re
spect for personal liberty extends lo the exercise of the faculties
of every man ; and the nation is so jealous of managing its own
concerns, wherever that is practicable, that in several respects
there is wanting in London a police necessary to the comfort of
the town, , because the ministers cannot encroach on the local
authorities. Political security, without which there can be neither credit,
nor accumulated capital, is not however sufficient to bring forth
all the resources ofa nation ; men must be excited to labour by
emulation, while the law secures to them the fruits of labour.
Commerce and industry must be honoured, not by recompenses
bestowed on such or such an individual, which supposes two
classes in a country, one of which believes it has the right to pay
the other ; but by an order of things which allows each man to
reach the highest rank, if he become deserving of it. Hume
says " that commerce stands still more in need of dignity, than
of liberty ;" and indeed, the absurd prejudice which forbade
the French noblesse to engage in business,, was more prejudicial
than all the other abuses of the old regime, to the progress of
wealth in France. Peerages have been recently given in Eng
land lo merchants of the first class : when once made peers,
they do not remain in business, because it is understood that
they should serve their country in another manner. But it is
their functions as magistrates, and not the prejudices of a caste,
which removes them from the occupations of trade, into which
the younger sons of the greatest families, when called on by cir
cumstances, enter without hesitation. The same family is often.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 233
connected with peers on one side, and, on the other, with the
plainest merchants of a provincial town. This political order
stimulates all the faculties of the individual, because there are
no bounds to the advantages which riches and talent may at
tain ; and because no exclusion withholds either alliances, or
employment, or society, or titles, from the last of English citi
zens, if he is worthy of being the first.
But it will be said that in France, even under the old govern
ment, individuals without high birth were named to the greatest
places. Yes ; they were sometimes employed where they were
useful to the state ; but a citizen could in no case be made the
equal of a man of family. How was it possible to give decora.-
tions of the first order to a man of talents, without high birth,
when genealogical titles were requisite to have the right of
wearing them? Have we ever seen the title of Duke and Peer
conferred on one who could have been called an upstart ? (par
venu) and was not this word parvenu in itself an offence ? Even
the members of the French parliament could never, as we have
already stated, cause themselves to be considered the equals of
the military nobility. In England rank and equality are com
bined in the manner most favourable to the prosperity of the
state, and the happiness of the nation is the object of all social
distinctions. There, as every where else, historical names in
spire that respect of which a grateful imagination cannot refuse
the tribute ; but the titles remaining the same, though passing
from one family to another, there results from this a salutary
ignorance in the minds of the people, which leads them to pay
the same respect to the same titles, whatever may be the family
name to which they are attached. The great Marlborough wag
called Churchill, and was certainly not of so noble an origin as
the ancient house of Spencer, to which the present Duke of
Marlborough belongs ; but, without speaking of the memory of
a great man, which would have sufficed to honour his descend
ants, the people of the better classes only know that the Duke
of Marlborough of our days is of more illustrious descent than
the famous General, and the respect in which he is held by the
mass of the nation neither gains nor loses from that circum-
vol. ii. 30

234 considerations on
stance. The Duke of Northumberland, on the contrary, de
scends, by the female branch only, from the famous Percy Hot
spur ; and, nevertheless, he is considered by every body as the
true heir of that house. People exclaim against the regularity
of ceremonials in England ; the seniority of a single day, in
point of nomination to the peerage, gives one peer precedence
of another named some hours later. The wife and daughter
share the advantages of the husband or father ; but it is pre
cisely this regularity of ranks which prevents mortification to
vanity; for it may happen that the last created peer is ofa no
bler birth than he by whom he is preceded ; he may at least
think so ; and every one takes his share of self-love, without
injuring the public.
The . nobility of France, on the contrary, could be classed
only by the genealogist of the court. His decisions, founded on
parchments, were without appeal ; and thus, whilst the English
aristocracy is the hope of all, since every person can attain it,
French aristocracy was necessarily the despair of all, since it
was impossible for an individual to obtain, by the efforts of
his whole life, that which chance had refused him. It is not
the inglorious order of birth, said an English poet to William
III., which has raised ypu to the throne, but genius and virtue.
In England they have made respect for ancestry serve to
form a class which gives the power of flattering men of talents,
by associating them with it. In fact, we cannot too often ask,
what folly can be greater than that of arranging political asso
ciations in such a way, as may lead a celebrated man to regret
that he is not his own grandson ; for, once ennobled, his de
scendants of the third generation obtained by his merit privi
leges that could not be granted to himself. Thus in France all
persons were eager to quit trade, and even the law, whenever
they had money enough to purchase a title. Hence it happen
ed that no career, except that of arms, was ever carried as far
as it might have been ; and it has thus been impossible to judge
how far the prosperity of France would extend, if it enjoyed in
peace the advantages of a free constitution.
All classes of respectable individuals are accustomed to meet

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 235
in England in different committees, when engaged in any public
undertaking, in any act of charity, supported by voluntary sub
scriptions. Publicity in business is a principle so generally
admitted, that though the English are by nature the most re
served of men, and the most averse to speak in company, there
are always seats for spectators in the halls where the commit
tees meet, and an elevation from which the speakers address
the assembly.
I was present at one of these discussions, in which motives
calculated to excite the generosity of ihe hearers were urged
with much energy. The question was sending of relief to the
inhabitants of Leipsic, after the battle fought under the walls of
that town. The first who spoke was the Duke of York, the
King's second son, and the first person in the kingdom after the
Prince Regent, a man of ability, and much esteemed in the di
rection of his department ; but who has neither the habit of, not-
a taste for, speaking in public. He, however, conquered his
natural timidity, because he was thus hopeful of giving useful
encouragement. Courtiers in an absolute monarchy would not
have failed to insinuate to a King's son, first, that he ought not
,to do any thing which cost him trouble ; and, secondly, that he
was wrong to commit himself by haranguing the public in the
midst of merchants, his colleagues in speaking. This idea ne
ver entered the Duke of York's mind, nor that of any English
man, whatever might be his opinion. After the Duke of York,
the Duke of Sussex, the King's fifth son, who expresses himself
with great ease and elegance, spoke in his turn ; and the man
the most respected and esteemed in all England, Mr. Wilber
force, could schrcely make himself heard, so much was his
voice drowned in acclamations. Obscure"citizens, holding no
other rank in society than their fortune, or their zeal for huma
nity, succeeded these illustrious names ; every one, according
to his powers, insisted on the honourable necessity in which
England was placed, of succouring those of her allies who had
suffered mpre than herself in the common contest. The audi
tors subscribed before their departure, and considerable sums
were tjhc result of this meeting. It is thus that are formed the

236 CONSIDERATIONS ON
ties which strengthen the unity of the nation ; and it is thus that
social order is founded on reason and humanity.
These respectable assemblies do not merely aim at encou
raging acts of humanity; some of them serve particularly to
consolidate the union between the great nobility and the com
mercial class, between the nation and the government ; and
these are the most solemn.
London has always had a Lord Mayor, -who presides during
a year in the council ofthe city, and whose administrative pow
ers are very extensive. They are very careful in England not
to concentrate every thing in ministerial authority ; they choose
that in every county, in every town, local interests should be
placed in the hands of men chosen by the people to manage
them. The Lord Mayor is usually a merchant in the city, and
not always a great merchant ; but often a trader in whom a
great many individuals may see their equal. The Lady May
oress, for it is thus the Mayor's wife is called, enjoys, during a
year, all the honours attached to the most distinguished ranks
of the state. The election of the people, and the power of a
great city are honoured in the man by whom they are repre
sented. The Lord Mayor gives two grand official dinners, to
which he invites English of all classes, and foreigners. I have
seen at his table sons of the King, several of the ministers, am
bassadors of foreign powers, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the
Duke of Devonshire, as well as gentlemen of the highest re
spectability on various accounts : some sons of peers ; others,
members of the House of Commons ; merchants, lawyers, lite
rary men, all English citizens, all equally attached to their no
ble country. Two of the King's ministers rose from table to
address the company. ; for while on the Continent a minister
confines himself, even in the midst of select society, to the most
insignificant phrases, the heads of government in England al
ways consider themselves as representatives of the people, and
endeavour to win its approbation with as much solicitude as the
members of the opposition ; for the dignity of the English na
tion soars above every office, and every title. Various toasts,
of which the objects were political interests, were given accord-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 237
ing to custom : sovereigns and nations, glory and indepen
dence, were celebrated, and there at least the English showed
themselves the friends of the liberty of the world. In fact, a
free nation may have an exclusive spirit in regard to the advan
tages of trade or power; but it ought to associate itself in
every country with the rights of mankind.
This assemblage took place in an ancient edifice in the city,
whose gothic vaults have witnessed the most sanguinary strug
gles : tranquillity has reigned in England only in conjunction
wilh liberty. The official dress of all the members of the Com
mon Council is the same as it was several centuries ago. Some
customs of that period are likewise preserved, and the imagina
tion is affected by them ; but this is because the recollections of
former ages do not recall odious prejudices. Whatever is go
thic in the habits, and even in some of the institutions of Eng
land, seems a ceremony of the worship of the age ; but neither
the progress of knowledge nor the improvement of the laws suf
fer from it in any respect.
We cannot believe that Providence has placed this fine monu
ment of social order so near to France, merely to give us the
pain of never being able to equal it ; and we shall examine with
attention that which we should wish to imitate with energy.

238 considerations on
CHAPTER IV.
Of Liberty and Public Spirit among the English.
The first basis of all liberty is individual security ; and nothing
is finer than English legislation in this respect. A criminal suit
is in every country a horrible spectacle. In England the ex
cellence of the procedure, the humanity of the judges, the pre
cautions of every kind taken to secure the life of the innocent
man, and means of defence to the guilty, mingle a sentiment of
admiration with the anguish of such a discussion. How will
you be tried ? says the officer of the court to the accused. By
God and my country, replies the latter. God grant you good
deliverance, rejoins the officer of the court. From the opening
ofthe proceedings, if the prisoner be confused, if he commit
himself by his answers, the judge sets him in the proper path,
and takes no account of inconsiderate words which might es
cape him. In the progress ofthe trial he never addresses him
self to the accused, from a dread that the emotion naturally ex
perienced by the latter might expose him to injure himself.
Indirect witnesses, that is, witnesses who depose on hearsay, are
never admitted, as in France. In short, all the precautions
have the interest of the accused for their object. Religion and
liberty preside over the imposing act which permits man to con
demn his fellow creature to death. The admirable institution
of juries, which in England goes back to a very remote period,
introduces equity into the administration of justice. Those who
are momentarily invested with the right of sending a guilty per
son to a capital punishment, have a natural sympathy with the
habits of his life, as they are in general chosen in a class near
ly similar to his own : and when juries are obliged to find a
criminal guilty, he himself is at least certain that society has
done every thing to procure his acquittal, if he had deserved it ;
and this conviction cannot but produce some tranquillity in his

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 239
heart. For a century past there is perhaps no example in Eng
land of a capital conviction in which the innocence of the indi
vidual was discovered too late. The citizens of a free state
have so large a share of good sense and conscientiousness that,
with these two directing lights, they never err.
We know what a noise was produced in France by the sen
tence pronounced against Calas, by that against Lally ; and
shortly before the Revolution, president Dupaty published a
most energetic pleading in favour of three accused persons who
had been condemned to die on the wheel, and whose innocence
was proved after their death. Such misfortunes could not oc
cur under the laws and criminal procedure of England : and
public opinion, that court of appeal, would, with the liberty of
the press, make known the slightest error in that respect, were
it possible that it could be committed.
However, offences which have no connexion whatever with
politics are not those in which we have to dread the application
of arbitrary power. In general it is of little consequence to the
great personages of this world in what way robbers and assas
sins are tried ; and no person has an interest in wishing that the
laws should not be respected in such trials. But when political
crimes are in question, those crimes with which opposite parties
reproach each other with so niuch hatred and bitterness, then
it is that we have seen in France all kinds of extraordinary tri
bunals, created by existing circumstances, applied to such an
individual, and justified, it was said, by the greatness ofthe of
fence ; while it is exactly when this offence is of a nature to
excite the passions strongly, that we are under the greatest ne
cessity of recurring for its trial, to the dispassionate firmness of
justice. The English had been vexed like the French; like
every people of Europe, where the empire of law is not estab
lished, by the Star Chamber, by extraordinary commissions, by
the extension of the crime of high treason to all that was dis
pleasing to the possessors of power. But since liberty has been
consolidated in England, not only has no individual accused of
an offence against the state ever had to dread a removal from
hrs natural judges, — who could admit sucha thought? but the

240 CONSIDERATIONS ON
law gives tp him more means of defence than to any other, be
cause he has more enemies. A recent circumstance will show,
in all its beauty, this respect of the English for justice, one of
the most admirable traits of their admirable government.
Three attempts have been made, during the present reign,
on the life of the King of England, and certainly it was very
dear to his subjects. The veneration which he inspires under
his present malady has something affecting and delicate, of
which one would never have thought an entire nation capable ;
and yet none of the assassins who endeavoured to kill the King
have been condemned to death. Having been found to show
symptoms of mental derangement, this was made the object of
an inquiry the more scrupulous, in proportion to the violence of
public indignation against them. Louis XV. was wounded by
Damien towards the middle of the last century, and it is assert
ed that this wretch also was^ deranged ; but supposing even that
he possessed his reason to a degree that merited a capital
punishment, can a civilized nation tolerate the tortures to which
he was condemned ? And it is said that those tortures had inqui
sitive and voluntary witnesses : what a contrast between such
barbarity and the proceedings in England! But let us beware
of deducing from this any consequence unfavourable to the
French character ; it is arbitrary government that depraves a
nation, and not a decree of Heaven awarding every virtue to
one, and every vice to another.
Hatfield is the name of the third of the madmen who attempt
ed to assassinate the King of England. He chose the day when
the King re-appeared at the theatre after a long illness, accom
panied by the Queen and the royal family. At the moment the
King entered the house, was heard the report of a pistol fired
in the direction of his box ; and as he stepped back a few paces,
the public were, for a moment, doubtful whether the murder
had not been committed ; but when the courageous Monarch
again advanced to relieve the crowd of spectators, whose dis
quietude was extreme, nothing can express the transport they
felt. The musicians, by a spontaneous impulse, struck up the
sacred tune, " God save the king," and this prayer produced, in

TffE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 241
the midst of the public anxiety, an emotion of which the recol
lection still lives in the bottom of the heart. After such a scene,
many persons, unacquainted with the virtues of liberty, would
have loudly demanded a cruel death for the assassin, and the
courtiers would have been seen acting the part of the populace
in their frenzy, as if the excess of their affection no longer left
them masters of themselves : nothing of this kind could take
place in a free country. The King, in the capacity of magis
trate, was protector of his assassin from a feeling of justice, and
no Englishman imagined it was possible to please his sovereign
by the sacrifice of the immutable law which represents the will
of God on earth.
Not only was the course of justice not hastened a single hour,
but we shall see, by the preamble to the pleading of Mr. Ers
kine, now Lord Erskine, what precautions are adopted in fa
vour of a state criminal. Let us add that, in trials for high
treason, the defender of the accused has a right to plead in his
defence : in ordinary cases of felony, he can only examine wit-,
nesses and call the attention of the jury to their answers. And
what a defender was he who was given to Hatfield ? — Erskine,
the most eloquent lawyer in England, the most ingenious in the
art of pleading. It was thus that his speech began :*
" Gentlemen of the Jury.— The scene which we are engaged
in, and the duty which I am not merely privileged, but appoint
ed by the authority of the court to perform, exhibits to the
whole civilized world a perpetual monument of our national
justice. .
" The transaction, indeed, in every part of it, as it stands re
corded in the evidence already before us, places our country,
and its government, its inhabitants, and its laws, upon the high-
* I cannot too strongly recommend to French readers the collection of the
speeches of Erskine, who was raised to the rank of chancellor after a long and dis
tinguished career at the bar. Descended from one of the oldest families in Scot
land, he set out in life as an officer ; and afterwards, being without fortune, entered
on the profession of the law. The particular circumstances to which the pleadings
of Lord Erskine relate are all opportunities for displaying, with unrivalled strength
and sagacity, the principles of criminal jurisprudence which ought to serve as a mo
del to every people.
VOL. II. 31

242 CONSIDERATIONS ON* ,
est pinnacle of moral elevation that social order can attain. It
appears that, on the 15th day of May last, His Majesty, after a
reign of forty years, not merely in sovereign power, but sponta
neously in the very hearts of his people, was openly shot at,
(or to all appearance shot at,) in a public theatre in the centre
of his capital, and amidst the loyal plaudits of his subjects ; yet
not a hair of the head of the supposed assassin was touched.
In this unparalleled scene of calm forbearance, the King him1
self, though he stood first in personal interest and feeling, as
well as in command, gave an example of calmness and modera
tion equally singular and fortunate.
" Gentlemen, I agree with the Attorney-General, (indeed
there can be no possible doubt,) that if the same pistol had
been maliciously fired by the prisoner in the same theatre, at
the meanest man within its walls, he would have been brought
to immediate trial, and, if guilty, to immediate execution. He
would have heard the charge against him for the first time when
the indictment was read upon his arraignment. He would have
been a stranger to the names and even to the existence of those
who were to sit in judgment upon him, and of those who were
to be witnesses against him ; but upon the chapge of even this
murderous attack upon the King himself, he is entirely covered
with the armour of the law. He has been provided with coun
sel by the King's own judges, and not of their choice, but of his
own. He has had a copy of the indictment ten days before his
trial. — He has had the names, descriptions and abodes of all the
jurors returned to the court; he has enjpyed the important pri
vilege of peremptorily rejecting them without assigning the
motive of his Tefusal. He has had the same description of
every witness who could be received to accuse him; and there
must at this hour be twice the testimony against him that would
be legally competent to establish his guilt on a similar prosecu
tion by the meanest and most helpless of mankind.
" Gentlemen, when this melancholy catastrophe happened, I
remember to have said to some now present, that it was, at first
view, difficult to go back to the principle of those indulgent ex
ceptions to the general rules of procedure, and to explain why

TiU FRENCH REVOLUTION. 243
our ancestors extended to conspiracies against the king's per
son, the precautions which concern treasons against govern
ment. In fact, in cases of political treason, passions and inte
rests of great bodies of powerful men being engaged and agi
tated, a counterpoise became necessary to give composure and
impartiality to criminal tribunals ; but a mere murderous attack
upon the King's person, not at all connected with his political
character, seemed a case to be ranged and dealt with like a
similar attack upon any private man.
" But the wisdom of the law is greater than any man's wis
dom ; how much more, therefore, than mine! An attack upon
the. King is considered to be parricide against the state; and
the jury and the witnesses, and even the judges, are the chil
dren. It is fit, on that account, that there should be a solemn
pause before we rush to judgment ; and what can be a more
sublime spectacle of justice, than that ofa whole nation declar
ed disqualified from judging duripg a limited period ? Was not
a fifteen days' quarantine necessary to preserve the mind from
the contagion of so natural a partiality."
What a country is that, in which such words are only the
plain and accurate exposition ofthe existing state of things.
The civil jurisprudence of England is much less entitled to
praise; the suits in it are too tedious and too expensive. It
will certainly be ameliorated in course of time, as it has already
been in several respects ; for what, above all things, charac
terizes the English government, is the possibility of improving
itself without convulsion. There remain in England old forms.,
originating in the feudal ages, which surcharge the civil admi
nistration of law with a number of useless delays ; but the con
stitution was established by engrafting the new on the old, and
if the result has been the keeping up of certain "abuses, it can,
on the other hand, be said, that liberty has in this way received
the advantage of claiming an ancient origin, A condescension
for old usages does not extend in England to any thing that con<-
cerns individual security and liberty : in that respect the ascen
dency of reason is complete, and it is on the basis of reason that
all reposes.

244 CONSIDERATIONS ON^*
Before we proceed to the consideration of political powers,
without which civil rights would possess no guarantee, we
must speak of the only infraction of individual liberty with
which England can be reproached — the impressment of sea
men. I will not urge the motives founded on the great interest
which a country whose power is maritime, has to maintain it
self in this respect in strength ; nor will I say that this kind of
violence is confined to those who have already served either
in the mercantile or in the royal navy, and who consequently
know, as soldiers do on land, the kind of obligation to which
they are subjected. I shall prefer to admit frankly that it is a
great abuse, but an abuse which will, doubtless, be reformed in
some way ; for in a country in which the thoughts of all are
turned towards the improvement of the state of society, and
where the liberty of the press is favourable to the extension of
public spirit, it is impossible that truths of every kind should
not, in the long run, attain effectual circulation. We may pre
dict, that at a period more or less remote, we shall see import
ant changes in the mode of recruiting the navy of England.
" Well !" exclaim the enemies of all public virtue, " suppos
ing the good that is said of England to be well founded, the only
result is that it is a country ably and wisely governed, as every
other country might be : but it is by no means free in the way
that philosophers understand freedom, for ministers are masters
of every thing in that as in other countries. They purchase
votes in parliament in such a way as to obtain constantly a ma
jority ; and the whole of this English constitution which we hear
spoken of with so much admiration, is nothing but the art of
bringing political venality into play." Mankind would be much
to be pitied were the world thus stripped of all its moral beau
ties, and it would then be difficult to comprehend the views of
the Divinity in the creation of men ; but happily these asser
tions are combated by facts as much as by theory. It is incon
ceivable how ill England is known on the Continent, in spite of
the little distance that separates the two. Party spirit rejects
the light which it would receive from this immortal beacon ;
and people refuse to look at any thing in England but her di-

.FRENCH REVOLUTION. 245

plomatic influence, which is not, as I shall explain in the se
quel, the fair side of that country.
Can people in reality persuade themselves, that the English
ministers give money to the members of the House of Com
mons, or to members of the House of Peers, to vote on the side
of government? How could the English ministers, who render
so exact an account ofthe public money, find sums of sufficient
magnitude to bribe men of such large fortune, to say nothing
whatever of their character ? Mr. Pitt, several years ago, threw
himself on the indulgence of the House, in consequence of hav
ing lent 40,000/. to support some mercantile establishments
during the last war ; and what is called secret service money is
of too small amount to command the least political influence in
the interior of the country. Moreover, would not the liberty of
the press, the torch which sheds light on the smallest details of
the life of public men, would it not expose those presents of
corruption, which would for ever ruin those who had received
them, as well as the ministers who had bestowed them ?
There did, I confess, exist under Mr. Pitt's predecessors,
some examples of bargains concluded for government in such a
way as to give an indirect advantage to members of parliament ;
but Mr. Pitt abstained altogether from expedients so unworthy
of him ; he established a free competition for loans and con
tracts ; and yet no man exercised a greater sway over both
houses. " Yes," it will be said, " peers and members of the
commons are not gained by money, but their object is places
for themselves and their friends ; and corruption in this way is
as effectual as in the other." Doubtless, the favours at the dis
posal of the crown form a part of the prerogative of the King,
and consequently of the constitution. This influence is one of
the weights in the balance so wisely combined ; and, moreover,
it is as yet very limited. Never would ministry have either the
power or the idea of making any change in what regards the
constitutional liberties of England. Public opinion presents in that
respect an invincible barrier. Public delicacy consecrates cer
tain truths as above attack ; and the opposition would no more
think of criticizing the institution ofthe peerage, than the minis-

246 CONSIDERATIONS ON
terial party would presume to blame the liberty of the press.
It is only in the circle of momentary circumstances, that cer
tain personal or family considerations can influence the direc
tion of some minds ; but never to a degree to cause the infrac
tion of constitutional laws. Even were the King desirous of ex
empting himself from these laws, the responsibility of ministers
would not permit them to support him in it : and those who.
compose the majority in the two houses would be still less dis
posed to renounce their real rights as lords, representatives,
and citizens, to acquire the favour of a court.
Fidelity to a party is one of the virtues founded on respect
for public spirit, from which the greatest advantages result to
English liberty. If to-morrow the ministers go out of office,
those who voted with them and to whom they have given places
quit those places along with them. A man would be dishonour
ed in England, were he to separate from his political friends on
private views. Public opinion in this respect is so decided,
that a man of a very respectable name and character was
known, not very long ago, to commit suicide, unable to bear
the self-reproach of having accepted a place without the con
currence of his party. Never do you hear the same mouth
give utterance to two opposite opinions ; and yet, in the exist
ing state of things in England, the differences lie in shades, not
colours. Tories, it has been said, approve of liberty and love
monarchy, while Whigs approve of monarchy and love liberty ;
but between these two parties, no question could arise about a
republican or a regal form of government, about the old or the
new dynasty, liberty or servitude ; in short, about any of those
extremes and contrasts which we have seen professed by the
same men in France, as if we ought to say of power as of love,
that the object is of no consequence, provided one be always
faithful to the sentiment, that is, to devotedness to power.
Dispositions of a very opposite character are the objects of
admiration in England. For nearly half a century the members
of Opposition have been in place only three or four years ; yet
parly fidelity has not been shaken among them ; and even re
cently, at the time I was in England, I saw lawyers refuse places

TBI FRENCH REVOLUTION. 247
of 7 or 8000/. a year, which were not immediately connected
with politics, only because they had engagements of opinion
with the friends of Fox. Were a man in France to refuse a
place of 8000/. a year, truly his relations would think it high
time to take out against him a statute of lunacy.
The existence of a ministerial and opposition party, although
it cannot be prescribed by law, is an essential support of liber
ty founded on the nature of things. In every country where you
see an assembly of men constantly in accord, be assured that
despotism exists, or that despotism, if not the cause, will be the
result of unanimity. Now as power, and the favours at the
disposal of power, possess attraction for men, liberty could not
exist but with this fidelity to party, which introduces, if we may
use the phrase, a discipline of honour into the ranks of members
enrolled under different banners.
But if opinions are formed beforehand, how can truth and
eloquence operate on an assembly ? How can the majority
change when circumstances call for change ? and of what avail
is discussion, if no one can vote agreeably to his conviction ?
The case is not so : what is called fidelity to your party consists
in not separating your personal interests from those of your
political friends, and in your not treating separately with men
In power. But it often happens that circumstances or argu
ments influence the mass of the assembly, and that the neutral
party, whose number is considerable, that is, the men who do
not take an active part in politics, produce a majority on the
other side. It is in the nature of the English government that
ministers cannot remain in office without having this majority in
their favour ; yet Mr. Pitt, although he lost it for an interval, in
the outset of his ministerial career, was enabled to keep his
place, because public opinion, which was in his favour, enabled
him to dissolve parliament and have recourse to a new elec
tion. In short, public opinion bears the sway in England, and
it is public opinion that constitutes the liberty ofa country.
The jealous friends of this liberty desire a reform in parlia
ment, and maintain that there is no truth in the existence of a
representative government so'lopg as the elections shall be so

248 CONSIDERATIONS
managed as to put the choice of a great number df deputies at
the disposal of the ministry. The ministry, it is true, can in
fluence a number of elections, such as those of the Cornish bo
roughs, and some others ofthe same nature, in which the- right
of electing has been preserved, although the electors have, in a
great measure, disappeared ; while towns, of which the popula
tion is greatly increased, have not so many deputies as their
population would require, or have even none at all. We may
reckon, in the number of the prerogatives of the crown, the
right of introducing by its influence sixty or eighty members
into the House of Commons out of six hundred and fifty-eight
who compose it ; but this abuse, for it is one, has not, down to
the latest times, altered the strength and independence of the
English parliament.
The bishops and archbishops, who have seats in the House of
Peers, vote likewise almost always with the ministry, except in
points relative to religion. It is not from corrupt motives, but
from a sense of propriety, that prelates appointed by the King
do not in general attack ministers ; but all these different ele
ments, that enter into the composition of the national represen
tation, do not prevent it from proceeding under the eye of pub
lic opinion ; nor prevent men of importance in England,
whether for talent, fortune, or personal respectability, from be
ing in general members of the House. There are great pro
prietors and peers who dispose of certain seats in the House of
Commons in the same way as ministers ; and when these peers
are in the Opposition, the members, whom they have caused to
be returned, vote in like manner on their side. All these acci
dental circumstances make no change in the nature ofthe repre
sentative government. What, above all, is of importance, is
the publicity of debate, and the admirable forms of deliberation
which protect the minority. Deputies returned by lot would,
with the liberty of the press, represent the national opinion in
a country more faithfully than the most regularly elected depu
ties, if they were not guided and enlightened by that liberty.
It would, however, be desirable to make a gradual suppres
sion of elections that have become illusory, and that, on the

thbWench revolution. 257
CHAPTER V.
Of Knowledge, Religion, and Morals, among the English.
What constitutes the knowledge of a nation are sound political
ideas spread through every class, and general information in
science and literature. I a the first respect, the English have
FiO rivals in Europe ; in the second, I know nothing that can be
compared to them, except the Germans ofthe North. Still the
English would have an advantage which can belong only lo
their instilutions, which is, that the first class of society devotes
itself as much to study as the second. Mr. Fox wrote learned
dissertations on Greek, during his hours of leisure from parlia
mentary debates : Mr. Windham has left several interesting
treatises on mathematics and literature. The English have at
all times honoured learning: Henry VIII., who trampled every
thing under foot, yet respected men of letters, when they did
not come in opposition to his ungoverned passions. The great
Elizabeth was well versed in the ancient languages, and even
spoke Latin with facility. That foppery of ignorance with
which we had reason to reproach the French nobility, was never
introduced among the princes or nobility of England. One
would think that the former were persuaded that the divine
right, by which they hold their privileges, entirely exempted
them from the study of human science. Such a manner of
thinking could not exist in England, and would only appear
ridiculous. Nothing factitious can succeed in a country where
every thing is subjected to publicity. The great English nobi
lity would be as much ashamed of not having had a distinguish
ed classical education, as men of the second rank in France
were, heretofore, of not going to court; and these differences
are not connected, as some pretend, with French frivolity. The
most persevering scholars, the deepest thinkers, have belonged
to that nation, which is capable of every thing when it chooses -,'
vol. n. 33

258 CONSIDERATIONS ON .,
but its political institutions were so defective, that they per
verted its natural good qualities.
In England, on the-contrary, the institutjpjis favour every
kind of intellectual progress. The juries, the administrations
of counties and towns, the elections, the newspapers, give the
whole nation a great share of interesl in public affairs. The
consequence is, that it is better informed ; and that, at a ven
ture, it would be better to converse with an English farmer on
political questions, than with the greater number of men on the
Continent, even the most enlightened. That admirable good
sense which is founded on justice and security, exists nowhere
but in England, or in the country that resembles it, America.
Reflection must remain a stranger to men who have no rights ;
since, as soon as they perceive the truth, they must be first un
happy, and soon after filled with the spirit of revolt. It must
be admitted also, that in a country where the armed force has
almost always been naval, and commerce the principal occupa
tion, there must necessarily be more knowledge than where the
national defence is confided to the troops of the line ; and
where industry is almost entirely directed to the cultivation of
the ground. Commerce, placing men in relation with the inte-"
rests of the world, extends the ideas, exercises the judgment,
and, from the multiplicity and diversity of transactions, makes
the necessity of justice continually to be felt. In countries
where the only pursuit is agriculture, the mass of the popula
tion may be composed of serfs attached to the soil, and devoid
of all information. But what could be done with slavery and
ignorance in a mercantile capacity ? A maritime and commer
cial country is, therefore, necessarily more enlightened than
any other ; yet there remains much to be done to give the Eng
lish people a sufficient education. A considerable portion of
the lowest class can as yet neither read nor write ; and it is,
doubtless, to remedy this evil that the new methods of Bell and
Lancaster are so warmly encouraged, because they are calcu
lated to bring education within the reach ofthe indigent. The
lower orders are perhaps better informed in Switzerland, in
Sweden, and in some parts of the north of Germany ; but in

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 259
none of these countries is found that vigour of liberty which
will preserve England, it is to be hoped, from the re-action oc
casioned by the French Revolution. In a country where there
is an immense capital, great riches concentrated in a small
number of hands, a court, all that can tend to the corruption of
the people, time is requisite for knowledge to extend itself, and
to oppOse successfully the inconveniences attached to the dis
proportion of fortunes.
The peasantry of Scotland are better informed than that of
England, because there is less wealth in the hands of a few,
and more competency of circumstances among the lower orders.
The presbyterian religion established in Scotland excludes the
episcopal hierarchy, maintained by the English church. Con
sequently the choice of the simple ministers of public worship
is better ; and as they live retired in the mountains, they de
vote their time to the instruction of the country people. It is
also a great advantage for Scotland not to be subject, like Eng
land, to a very oppressive and very ill planned poor's rate,
which keeps up mendicity, and creates a class of people who
dare not quit the parish where they are secure of relief. The"
city of Edinburgh is not so much absorbed as London by pub
lic business, and does not contain such an assemblage of wealth
and luxury : hence, philosophical and literary interests more
fully occupy the mind. But, on the other hand, the remains of
the feudal system are more felt in Scotland than in England.
Juries in civil affairs have been but recently introduced, and
there are not nearly so many popular elections in proportion as
among the English. Commerce has there less influence, and
the spirit of liberty is, with some exceptions, displayed with less
energy. In Ireland, the ignorance of the lower orders is frightful ; but
that must be attributed, in part, to superstitious prejudices, and,
on the other, to the almost total privation of the benefits of a
constitution. Ireland has been united to England only within
a few years ; she has felt till now all the evils of arbitrary pow
er, and has often avenged herself of it in a most violent manner.
The nation being divided into two religions, forming also two

360 CONSIDERATIONS ON*
political parties, the English government since Charles I. has
granted every advantage to the Protestants, in order to enable
them to keep in submission the Catholic majority. Swift, an Irish
man, and as fine a genius as any in the three kingdoms,* wroteT
in 1740, on the miserable state of Ireland. The attention of en
lightened men was strongly excited by the writings of Swift,
and the improvements which took place in that country may be
dated from that time. When America declared herself inde
pendent, and England was obliged to acknowledge her as such,
the necessity of paying attention to Ireland was felt every day
more strongly by reflecting minds. The illustrious talents of Mr.
Grattan, which, thirty years later, have again astonished Eng
land, were remarked so early as 1782 in the parliament of Ire
land ; and by degrees that country was at length brought to a
union with Great Britain. Superstitious prejudices are still,
however, the source of a thousand evils there ; for to reach the
same point of prosperity as England, the knowledge connected
with a reform in religion is as necessary as the free spirit of a
representative government. The political exclusion, to which
the Irish Catholics are condemned,, is contrary to the true prin
ciples. of justice ; but it seems difficult to put in possession of
the benefits of the constitution men who are irritated by ancient
resentment. Hitherto then we can admire in the Irish nation, only a great
character of independence, and a great deal of natural quickness ;
but in that country people do not yet enjoy either the securi
ty or the instruction which are the result of religious and politi-
* ft is related tliaf Swift felt a foreboding that his faculties would abandon him.,
and that, walking one day with a friend, he saw an oak, the head of which was
withered, though the trunk and roots were yet in full vigour. " It is thus I shall
be," said Swift ; and his melancholy prediction was accomplished. When he had
fallen into such a state of stupor, that for , a whole year he had not uttered a word>
he suddenly heard the bells of St. Patrick's, of which he was the Dean, ringing in
full peal, and asked what it meant. His friends, in raptures that he had recovered
his speech, hastened to inform him that it was in honour of his birth-day that these
signs of joy were taking place. " Ah*!" he exclaimed, " all that is unavailing now ;"
and he returned to that silence which death soon after confirmed. But the good
he had done survived him, and it is for this that menof genius appear on the earth.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 261
cal liberty. Scotland is, in many respects, the opposite of Ire
land, and England retains something of both.
It being impossible in England to be minister without sitting
in one ofthe Houses of Parliament, and discussing the affairs
of state with the representatives of the nation, it unavoidably
follows that such ministers bear, in general, no resemblance to
the class of governors in an absolute monarchy. The esteem
ofthe public is, in England, the first aim of men in power ; they
scarcely ever make a fortune in tbe ministry. Mr. Pitt died,
leaving nothing but debts, which the parliament paid. The
under-secretaries of state, the clerks, all persons connected with
the administration, enlightened by public opinion and their own
pride, possess the most perfect integrity. Ministers canuot fa
vour their partisans, unless the latter are sufficiently distinguish
ed not to provoke the discontent of Parliament. It is not enough
to have the favour of the master lo remain in place ; it is neces
sary also to have the esteem of the representatives of the na
tion ; and this can only be obtained by real ability. Ministers
appointed by court intrigue, as we have seen continually in
France, would not support themselves twenty-four hours in the
House of Commons. Their mediocrity would be ascertained
in an instant : they would not appear there be-powdered, and
in the full costume ofthe ministers of the old government and
of the court of Bonaparte. They would not be surrounded
with courtiers, acting the same part with them which^they
themselves act with the King: and bursting into raptures at the
justness of their common-place ideas, and the depth of their
false conceptions. An English minister enters either House
alone, without any particular dress, without a distinctive mark;
no sort of quackery comes to his aid ; every body questions and
judges him ; but, on the other hand, he is respected by all, if
he deserve it, because, being able to pass only for what he is,
the esteem he enjoys is due to his personal worth.
" They do not pay their court lo princes in England as in
France," it will be said, " but they seek popularity, which does
not less impair the truth of character." In a well-qrganized
country, like England, to desire popularity is to wish for the jus*

262 CONSIDERATIONS ON
recompense of ali that is noble and good in itself. There have
existed, in all limes, men who were virtuous, notwithstanding
the inconveniences and the perils to which they were exposed
inconsequence; but when social institutions are combined in
such a manner, that private interests and public virtues accord,
it does not hence follow that these virtues have no other basis
than personal interest. They are only more general, because
they are advantageous as well as honourable.
The science of liberty (if we may use that expression) at the
point at which it is cultivated in England, supposes in itself a
very high degree of information. Nothing can be more simple
than that doctrine, when once the principles on which it reposes
'have been adopted ; but it is nevertheless certain that, on the
Continent, we seldom meet with any person who, in heart and
mind, understands England. It would seem as if there were
moral truths, amidst which we must be born, and which the
beating ofthe heart inculcates better than all the discussions of
theory. Nevertheless, to enjoy and practise that liberty, which
unites all the advantages of republican virtues, of philosophical
knowledge, of religious sentiments, and monarchical dignity, a
great share of understanding is requisite in the people, and a
high degree of study and virtue in men of the first class. An
English minister must unite with the qualities of a statesman
the art of expressing himself with eloquence. It thence follows,
that literature and philosophy are much more appreciated, be
cause they contribute efficaciously to the success of the highest
ambition. We hear incessantly of the empire of rank and of
wealth among the English ; but we must also acknowledge the
admiration which is granted to real talents. Il is possible that,
among the lowest class of society, a peerage and a fortune pro
duce more effect than the name of a great writer ; this must be
so ; but if the question regards the enjoyments of good compa
ny, and consequently of public Opinion, I know no country in
the world where it is more advantageous to be a man of supe
riority. Not only every employment, every rank may be the
recompense of talent ; but public esteem is expressed in so flat-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 263
tering a manner as to confer enjoyments more keenly felt than
any other.
The emulation which such a prospect naturally excites is one
of the principal causes of the incredible extent of information
diffused in England. Were it possible to make a statistical re
port of knowledge, in no country should we find sq great a pro
portion of persons conversant in the study of ancient langua
ges, a study, unfortunately, too much neglected in France.
Private libraries without number, collections of every kind,
subscriptions in abundance for all literary undertakings, estab
lishments for public education, exist in all directions, in every
county, at the extremity as in the centre of the kingdom : in
short, we find at each step altars erected to understanding, and
these altars serve as a support to those of religion and virtue.
Thanks to toleration, to political institutions, and the liberty
of the press, there is a greater respect for religion and for mo
rals in England than in any other country in Europe. In
France people take a pleasure in saying, that it is precisely for
the sake of re|igion and morals that censors have been at all
times employed ; but let them compare the spirit of literature in
England since the liberty ofthe press is established there, with
the different writings which appeared under the arbitrary reign
of Charles II., and under the Regent, or Louis XV. in France.
The licentiousness of published works was carried among the
French in the last century to a degree that excites horror.
The case is the same in Italy, where however the press has at
all times been subjected to the most galling restrictions. Igno
rance in the bulk of the people, and the most lawless indepen
dence in men of superior parts, is always the result of con
straint. English literature is certainly of all others that in which there
are the greatest number of philosophic works. Scotland con
tains, at this day, very powerful writers in that department,
with Dugald Stewart at their head, who in retirement pursues
with ardour the search, of truth. Literary criticism is carried
to the highest pitch in the Reviews, particularly in that of Edin
burgh ; in which writers, formed lo render themselves illnstri-

264 CONSIDERATIONS ON
ous, Jeffrey, Playfair, Mackintosh, do not disdain to enlighten
authors by the opinions they pass on their works. The most
learned writers on questions of jurisprudence and political
economy, such as Bentham, Makhus, Brougham, are more nu
merous in England than any where else, because they have a
well-founded hope that their ideas will be reduced to practice.
Voyages to every part of the world bring to England the tri
butes of science, which are not less welcome than those of com
merce ; but in the midst of so many intellectual treasures, of
every kind, we cannot cite any of those irreligious or licentious
works with which France has' been inundated : public opinion
has reprobated them from the moment that it had cause to dread
them ; and it acquits itself of this with the more alacrity, be
cause it is the only sentinel for this purpose. Publicity is al
ways favourable to truth • and as morality and religion are
truth in its highest character, the more you permit men to dis
cuss these subjects, the more they become enlightened and dig
nified. The courts of justice would very properly punish in
England any publication offensive to character and morals ; but
ho work bears that mark of official inspection (censure) which
casts a previous doubt on the assertions it may contain.
English poetry, which is fostered neither by irreligidn, nor
the spirit of faction, nor licentiousness of manners, is still rich'
and animated, experiencing nothing of that decline which threat
ens successively the literature of most other countries in Eu
rope. Sensibility and imagination preserve an immortal youth
of mind. A second age of poetry has arisen in England, be-
cause enthusiasm is not there extinct, and becaase nature, love,-
and country, always exercise great power there. Cowper
lately, and now Rogers, Moore, Thomas Campbell, Walter
Scott, Lord Byron, in different departments and degrees, are
preparing a new. age of glory for English poetry ; and while
every thing on the Continent is in a state of degradation, the
eternal fountain of beauty still flows from the land of freedom.
In what empire is Christianity more respected than in Eng
land ? Where are greater pains taken to propagate it ? Whence
do missionaries proceed in so great number to every part of the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 265
world? The Society which has taken on itself to transmit
copies of the Bible into countries where the light of Christiani
ty is obscured, or not yet displayed, transmitted quantities of
them into France during the war, and this care was not super
fluous. But I should at present deviate from my subject, were
I to enter here on what would constitute an apology for France
in that respect.
The Reformation placed the cultivation of knowledge among
the English in harmony with the feelings of religion. This has
been of great advantage to that country ; and the high degree
of piety of which individuals there are capable, leads always to
austerity in morals, and scarcely ever to superstition. The
particular sects of England, the most numerous of which is that
of the Methodists, have no other view than the maintenance of
the severe purity of Christianity in the conduct of life. Their
renunciation of pleasures of every kind, their persevering zeal
in well-doing, announce to mankind that there are in the Gospel
the germs of sentiments and of virtues still more fruitful than all
those that we have seen displayed even to the present day, and
the sacred flowers of which are perhaps destined for future
generations. In a religious country also good morals necessarily exist, and
yet the passions of the English are very strong ; for it is a great
error to believe them of a calm disposition, because they have
habitually cold manners. No men are more impetuous in great
things ; but they resemble the dogs sent by Porus to Alexan
der, who disdained to fight against any other adversary than
the Hon. The English abandon their apparent tranquillity, and
give themselves up to extremes of all kinds. They go in quest
of danger ; they wish to attempt extraordinary things ; they der-
sire strong emotions. Activity of imagination, and the restraint
of their habits, render such emotions necessary to them ; but
these habits themselves are founded on a great respect. for mo
rality. The freedom of the newspapers, which some persons would
represent to us as contrary to delicacy of. morals, is one of the
most efficacious causes of that delicacy : every thing in England
vol. n. 34

266 CONSIDERATIONS ON
is so well known, and so discussed, that truth in all matters is
unavoidable; and one might submit to the judgment of the
English public as to that of a friend, who should enter into the
details of your life, into the shades of your character, to weigh
every action, in the spirit of equity, agreeably to the situation of
each individual. The greater the weight of public opinion in
England, the greater boldness is necessary to act in violation of
it. Accordingly the women who brave it, go to a daring length.
But how rare are these violations of it, even in the highest class,
the only one in which such examples can at times be cited. In
the second rank, among the inhabitants of the country, we find
nothing but conjugal attachment and private virtues,' a domestic
life entirely consecrated to the education of a numerous family,
who, brought up in a complete conviction of the sacred nature
of marriage, would not permit a light thought on this subject lo
enter the mind. As there are no convents in England,' -the
daughters are commonly educated at the house of their parents ;
and one. can see by their information and their virtues, which of
the two is better for a female, education on this plan, or on that
which is practised in Italy.
" At least," it will be said, " those trials for divorce, in which
the most indecent discussions are admitted, are disgraceful."
They cannot however be so, since the result is such as I have
just mentioned. These trials are an old usage, and, in this
point of view,, certain people ought to defend them ; but, be
this as it may, the dread of the scandal is a great restraint. And
besides, people in England are not disposed as in France to
make such subjects a topic of pleasantry. A degree of austeri
ty, corresponding to the spirit of the early puritans, is displayed
in these trials. The judges, as well as the spectators, come to
them with a serious disposition, and the consequences are high
ly important, since the maintenance of the domestic virtues de
pends on them, and there is no liberty without these virtues.
Now as the spirit of the age was not favourable to them, the
useful ascendency of these trials for divorce is a fortunate
chance; for chance there almost always is in the good or evil
that can be produced by adhering to old usages, as occasionally

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 267
they are suitable to the present time, and at other periods no
longer applicable to it. Happy the country in which the mis
conduct of women can be punished with so much wisdom, with
out frivolity, and without vengeance. They are permitted to
have recourse to the protection ofthe man for whom they have
sacrificed every thing ; but they are, in general, deprived of all
the brilliant advantages of society. I know not-whether legis
lation could invent any thing at once more effectual and more
mild. An indignant feeling will perhaps be excited by the practice
of requiring a sum of money from the seducer of a woman. As
every thing in England is stamped with a noble feeling, I will
not lightly pass sentence on a custom of this nature, since it is
preserved. It is necessary to punish in some way the tres
passes of men against morals, since public opinion is in gene
ral too lax in regard to them, and no one will pretend that a
heavy pecuniary loss, is not a punishment. Moreover, the
public sensation produced by these distressing trials renders it
almost always a duty on the man to espouse the woman whom
he has seduced ; and this obligation is a pledge that neither
levity nor falsehood is mingled with the sentiments which men
take on themselves to express. When in love there is nothing
but love, its irregularities are both more rare and more excusa
ble. It is, however, difficult to me to understand why the fine
payable by the seducer should go to the husband : often, in
deed, the husband does not accept it, but appropriates it to the
poor. However, there is reason to think that two motives have
given rise to this custom : one, to furnish to a husband, when of
a class without property, the means of educating his children,
when the mother, whose duty it was, is lost to him ; the other,
and this is a more essential point, to bring forward the husband
in a case involving the misconduct of his wife, in order to exa
mine if he be not culpable, in a similar way, in regard to her.
In Scotland, infidelity on the part of the husband dissolves a
marriage, like infidelity on the part of the wife, and a sentiment
of duty in a free country always puts the strong and the weak
on a level.

§68 CONSIDERATIONS ON
In England all is constituted in such a way that the interest
of each class, of each sex, of each individual, lies in conforming
themselves to morality. Political liberty is the supreme instru
ment of this admirable combination. " Yes," it will still be said,
" if you look at words and not at things ; the truth is, that the
English are always governed by interest." As if there were
any resemblance between the interest that leads to virtue, and
that which causes a deviation to vice! Doubtlessj England is
not a planet distinct from ours, in which personal, advantage is
not, as elsewhere, the spring of human action. Men cannot be
governed by reckoning always on devotedness and sacrifices ;
but when the whole of the institutions of a country are such that
there is an advantage in being upright, there results from it a
certain habit of integrity which becomes engraven on every
heart ; it is transmitted by remembrance, the air we breathe is
impregnated with it, and we are no longer under the necessity
of reflecting on the inconveniences of every kind that would en
sue from certain improprieties ; the force of example is a suffi
cient preservative. from them.

T&E FRENCH REVOLUTION, $69
ft,
CHAPTER VI. '
Of Society in England, and of its Connexion with social Order.
It is not probable that we shall ever see in ahy country, not
even in France, such a society as we there enjoyed during the
first two years of the Revolution, and at the period that pre
ceded iU Foreigners, who flatter themselves with finding any
thing of the kind in England, are much disappointed ; for they*
often find there that time hangs heavy on their hands. Al-
though'that country contains' the most enlightened men and the
most interesting women, the enjoyments which society can pro
cure are but rarely met with. When a foreigner understands
English well, and is admitted to small circles composed of the
superior' men of the country, he tastes, if he be worthy of them,
the most noble enjoyments which the communication of reflect
ing beings can afford ; but it is not in these intellectual feasts
that the society of England consists. People in London are
invited every day to vast assemblages where they elbow each
other, as in the pit of a theatre. The women form the majbri-
ty$ and the crowd is, in general, so great that even their beauty
has not room for display : still less can any pleasure of the mind
..-¦: thought of. Considerable bodily vigour is required to cross
the drawing rooms without being stifled, and to get back to one's
carriage without accident ; but I do not well see that any other
superiority is necessary in such a rout. Accordingly serious
men soon renounce the tax, which in England is called fashion
able company ; and it is, it must be confessed, the most tire
some combination which can be formed out of such distinguish
ed elements.
These assemblages arise from the necessity of admitting a
very great number of persons into the circle of one's acquaint
ance. The list of visiters which an English lady receives is
sometimes of twelve hundred persons. French society is infi-

270 CONSIDERATIONS ON
nitely more exclusive : the aristocratic spirit which regulated
the formation of its circles was favourable to elegance and
amusement, but nowise in correspondence with the nature of a
free state. Thus, in frankly admitting that the pleasures of
society are found very rarely, and with great difficulty, in Lon
don, 1 shall examine if these pleasures are compatible with the
social order of England. If they are not, the choice cannot be
matter of doubt.
Men of large property in England generally discharge some
public duty in their respective counties ; and, from a wish to
be returned to parliament, or to influence the election of their
relations and friends, they pass eight or nine months in the
country. The consequence is, that social habits are entirely
suspended during two thirds of the" year, and it is only by meet
ing very frequently that people form familiar and easy con
nexions. In the part of London where the higher circles re
side, there are whole months in summer and autumn during
which the town has the appearance of being visited by a conta
gion, such is the solitude that prevails. The meeting of par
liament seldom takes place until January, and people do not
come to London till that time. The men living much on their
estates, pass half the day in riding or sporting ; they come
hotoe fatigued, and think only of taking rest, or sometimes even
of drinking, although the reports made of English manners, in
this respect, are grossly exaggerated, particularly if referred to
the present, time. However, such a mode of life does not fit
people for the pleasures of society. The French being called
neither by their business nor by their taste to live in the coun
try, one might find at Paris, during the whole year, houses in
which to enjoy very agreeable conversation ; but the conse
quence also was, that Paris alone enjoyed existence in France,
while in England political life is felt in every county. When
the interests of the country come under the jurisdiction of every
one, the conversation possessed of most attraction is that of
which public business is the object. Now in considering this
subject, we do not so much regard the sprightliness of the man
ner, as the real importance of the things discussed. Often does

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 271
a man, in other respects far from agreeable, captivate his hear
ers by the power of his reasoning and information. In France,
the art of being agreeable lay in never exhausting a subject,
and in never dwelling too long on those which were riot inte
resting to women. In England women never come conspicu
ously forward in discourse. The men have not accustomed
them to take a share in general conversation : when they leave
the room after dinner, conversation of this kind becomes more
keen and animated. The mistress of a house does not, as
among the French, think herself obliged to lead the conversa
tion, and particularly to take care that it does not languish.
People are quite resigned to this evil in English society ; and
it seems much easier to bear, than the necessity of taking a
conspicuous part for the sake of re-animating the discourse.
English women are extremely timid in this respect; for in a
free country, men preserving their natural dignity, females feel
themselves subordinate.
The case is not the same in an unlimited monarchy, such as
existed in France. As nothing there was impracticable or de
terminate, the conquests made by elegance were unbounded,
and women necessarily triumphed in contests of this kind. But
in England what ascendency could a woman, even the most
amiable, exercise in the midst of popular elections, ofthe elo
quence of parliament, and the inflexibility of the law ? Minis
ters have no idea that a woman could make application to them
on any subject whatever, unless she had neither brother, son,
nor husband, to undertake it. In the country of the greatest
publicity, state secrets are better kept than any where else.
There are here no intermediates, if we may use the expression,
between the newspapers and the ministerial cabinet ; and this
cabinet is the most discreet in Europe. There is no example
of a woman having known, or at least having told, what ought
to have been kept secret. In a country where domestic man
ners are so regular, married men have no mistresses ; and it is
only mistresses who dive into secrets, and particularly who re
veal them.

272 CONSIDERATIONS ON
Amongst the means of rendering society more animated, we
must reckon coquetry : now this hardly exists in England, ex
cept among young men and women who may perhaps subse
quently intermarry ; conversation gains nothing by it, but the
reverse. Indeed so low in general is their tone of voice that
these persons can scarcely hear each other : but the conse
quence is, that people are not married without being acquaint
ed ; while in France, to save the tediousness of these timid
amours, young girls were never introduced into company until
their marriage had been concluded on by their parents. If
there are in England women who deviate from their duty, jt is
with so much mystery, or with so much publicity, that the de
sire of pleasing in company, of exhibiting their fascinations, of
shining by grace and sprightliness of mind, has no connexion
whatever with their conduct. In France the power of conver
sation led to every thing ; in England talents of this kind are
appreciated, but they arc nowise useful to the ambition of those
who possess them : public men and the people make a choice,
among the candidates for power, of very different marks of su
perior faculties. The consequence is, that people neglect what
is not useful, in this as in every thing else. The national
character, moreover, being strongly turned towards reserve and
timidity, a powerful motive is necessary to triumph over these
habits, and this motive is found only in the importance of public
discussions. It is difficult to give a thorough explanation of what in Eng
land is called shiness, that is, the embarrassment which confines
to the bottom of the heart the expressions of natural benevo
lence ; for one often meets the coldest manners in persons who
would show themselves most generous towards you, if you stood
in need of their aid. The English are as far from being at ease
among each other, as with foreigners ; they do not speak till
after having been introduced to each other : familiarity becomes
established only after long acquaintance. In England one
scarcely ever sees the younger branches live after their mar
riage in the same house with their parents ; home is the pre
vailing taste of the English, and this inclination has perhaps

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 273
contributed to make them detest the political system which, in
other countries, permits exile or arbitrary arrest. Each fami
ly has its separate dwelling ; and London consists of a vast
number of houses, of small size, shut as close as boxes, and into
which it is not much more easy to penetrate. There are not
even many brothers or sisters who go to dine at each other's
houses, without invitation. This formality does not render life
very amusing; and in the taste of the English for travelling,
the motive is partly a desire to withdraw from the constraint of
their customs, as well as the necessity of escapieg from the fogs
ef their country.
In every country the pleasures of society concern only the
first class, that is, the unoccupied class; who, having a great
deal of leisure for amusement, attach much importance to it.
But in England, where every one has his career and his em
ployment, it is natural for men of rank as for men of business
in other countries, to prefer physical relaxation, — walks, the
country ; in short, pleasure of any kind, in which the mind is
at rest ; to conversation, in which one must think and speak
with almost as much care as in the most serious business. Be
sides, the happiness of the English being founded on domestic
life, it would not suit them that their wives should, as in France,
make a kind of family selection of a certain number of persons
constantly brought together.
We must not, however, deny that with all these honourable
motives are mixed certain defects, the natural results of all
large associations of men. In the first place, although in Eng
land there is much more pride than vanity, a good deal of stress
is laid on marking by manners the ranks which most of the in
stitutions tend to bring on a level. There prevails a certain de
gree of egotism in the habits, and sometimes in the character.
Wealth, and the tastes created by wealth, are the cause of it :
people are not disposed to submit to inconvenience in any
thing ; so great is their power of being comfortable in every
thing. Family ties, so intimate as regards marriage, are far'
from intimate in other relations, because the entails on proper
ty render the eldest sons too independent of their parents, and
vol. ii. 35

274 CONSIDERATIONS' ON
separate also the interest ofthe younger 'brothers from those of
the inheritor of the fortune. The entails necessaryto the sup
port ofthe peerage ought not, perhaps, to be extended to other
classes of proprietors : it is a remnant of the feudal system, of
which one ought, if possible, to lessen the vexatious consequen
ces. From this it happens likewise that most of the women are
without portions, and that in a country where the institution of
convents can&ot exist, there are a number of young ladies,
*whom their mothers have a great desire to get married, and
Who may, with reason, be uneasy as to their prospects. This
inconvenience, produced by the unequal partition of fortunes,
is sensibly felt in society : for the unmarried men take up too
much of the attention of the women, and wealth in general, far
from conducing to the pleasure of social intercourse, is necessa
rily hurtful to it. A" very considerable fortune is requisite to
receive one's friends in the country, which is, however, the most
agreeable mode of living in England : fortune is necessary for
all the relations of society ; not that people are vain of a sump
tuous mode of life ; but the importance attached by every body
to the kind of enjoyment termed comfortable, would prevent
any person from venturing, as was formerly the case in the
most agreeable societies in Paris, to make up for a bad dinner
by amusing anecdotes.
In all countries the pretensions of young persons of fashion
are engrafted on national defects ; they exhibit a caricature of
these defects, but a caricature has always some traits of an ori
ginal. In France the pretenders to elegance endeavoured to
strike, and tried to dazzle by all pOssible means, good or bad.
In England this same class of persons wish to be distinguished
as disdainful, indifferent, and completely satiated of every thing.
This is disagreeable enough ; but in what country of the world
is not foppery a resource of vanity to conceal natural mediocri
ty ? Among a people where every thing beafs a decided aspect,
as in England, contrasts are the more striking. Fashion has
remarkable influence on the habits of life, and yet there is no
nation in which one finds so maDy examples of what is called
eccentricity, that is, a mode of life altogether original, and

THE tfRESCH REVOLUTION. 275
which makes no account of the opinion of others. The differ
ence between the men who live under the control of others and
those who live to themselves is recognised every where ; but
this opposition of character is rendered more conspicuous by
the singular mixture of timidity and independence remarkable
among the English. They do nothing by halves, and they pass
all at once from a slavish adherence to the most minute usages,
to the most complete indifference as to what the world may say1
of them. Yet the dread of ridicule is one of the principal
causes of the coldness that prevails in English society: people
are never accused of insipidity for keeping silence ; and as
they do not require of you to animate the conversation, one is
more impressed by the risks to which one exposes one's self by
speaking, than by the awkwardness of silence. In the country
where people have the greatest attachment to the liberty of the
press, and where they care the least for the attacks ofthe news
papers, the sarcasms of society are very much dreaded. News
papers are considered the volunteers of political parties, and, in
this, as in other respects, the English are very fond, of keeping
up a conflict ; but slander and irony, when they take place in
company, irritate highly the delicacy of the women and the
pride of the men. This is the reason that people come as little
forward as possible in the presence of others. Animation and
grace necessarily lose greatly by this. In no country of the
world have reserve and taciturnity ever, I believe, been carri
ed so far as in certain societies in England ; and if one falls in
to such companies, it is easy to conceive how a disrelish of
life may take possession of those who find themselves confined
to them. But out of these frozen circles, what satisfaction of
mind and heart may not be found in English society, when one
is happily placed there ? The favour or dislike of ministers
and the court are absolutely of no account in the relations of
life ; and you would make an Englishman blush, were you to
appear to think of the office which he holds, or of the influence
he may possess. A sentiment of pride always makes him think
that these circumstances, neither add to nor deduct in the slight
est degree frpm his personal merit. Political disappointments

276 CONSIDERATIONS ON
cannot have any influence on the pleasures enjoyed in fashion
able society ; the party of Opposition are as brilliant there as
the. ministerialists : fortune, rank, intellect^ talents, virtues-, are
shared among them ; and never do either of thq two think of
drawing near to or keeping at a distance from a person by
those calculations of ambition which have always prevailed in
France, To quit one's friends because they are out of power,
and to draw near to them because they possess it, is a kind, of
tactics almost unknown in England ; and if the applause of so
ciety does not lead to public employment, at least the liberty of
society is not impaired by combinations foreign to the pleasures
which may be tasted there. One finds there almost invariably
the security and the truth which form the bases of all enjoyment,
because they form their security. You have not to dread those
perpetual broils which, in other countries, fill life with disqui
etude. What you possess in point of connexion and friend
ship, you can lose only by your own fault, and you never have
reason to doubt the expressions of benevolence addressed to
you, for they will be surpassed by the actual performance, and
consecrated by duration. Truth, above all, is one of the most
distinguished qualities of the English character. The publicity
that prevails in business, the discussions by which people arrive
at the bottom of every thing, have doubtless contributed to this
habit of strict truth which cannot exist but in a country where
dissimulation leads to nothing but the mortification of being ex
posed. It has been much repeated on the Continent, that the English
are unpolite, and a certain habit of independence, a great aver
sion to restraint, may have given rise to this opinion. But I
know no politeness, no protection, so delicate as that of the
English towards women in every circumstance of life. Is there
question of danger, of trouble, of a service to be rendered, there
is nothing that they neglect to aid the weaker sex. From the
seamen who, amidst the storm, support your tottering steps, to
English gentlemen of the highest rank, never does a woman
find herself exposed to any difficulty whatever, without being
supported ; and eyery where do we find that happy mixture

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 277
which is characteristic of England, a republican austerity in
domestic life, and a chivalrous spirit in the relations of society.
A quality not less amiable in the English is their disposition
to enthusiasm. This people can see nothing remarkable with
out encouraging it bythe most, flattering praises. One acts
then very rightly in going to England, in whatever state of mis
fortune one is placed, if conscious of possessing in one's self
any thing that is truly, distinguished. But if one arrives there,
like most of the rich idlers'of Europe, who travel to pass a car
nival in Italy, and a spring in London, there is no country that
more disappoints expectation ; and we shall certainly quit it
without suspecting that we have seen the finest model of social
order, and the only one which for a long time supported our
hopes of human nature.
I shall never forget the society of Lord Grey, Lord Lans
downe, and Lord Harrowby. I cite their names because they
all three belong to different parties, or to shades of different
parties, which comprise almost all the political opinions of Eng
land. There are other names which 1 should, in like manner,
have had much pleasure in mentioning.
Lord Grey is one ofthe most ardent friends of liberty in the
House of Peers : the nobleness of his birth, of his figure, and of
his manners, preserve him most decidedly from that kind of
vulgar popularity which some are eager to attribute to ihe par
tisans of the rights of nations ; and I would defy any one not to
feel for him every kind of respect. His parliamentary speaking
is generally admired. To eloquence' of language he joins a
forcfe of interior conviction, which makes his audience partici
pate in his feelings. Political questions produce emotion in
him, because a generous enthusiasm is the source of his opi
nions. As in company he always expresses himself with calm
ness and simplicity on topics that interest him the most, it is by
the paleness of his look that we sometimes become aware of the
keenness of his feelings : but it is without desiring either to
conceal or display the affections of his soul, that he speaks on
subjects for which he would lay down his life. It is well known
that he has twice refused to be prime minister, because he could

27$ , CONSIDERATIONS Ofl
not agree in certain points with the prince who was ready to
appoint him. Whatever diversity of opinion there may be on
the motives of that resolution, nothing appears more natural in
England than to decline being minister. I would not then no
tice the refusal of Lord Grey, had his acceptance implied the
slightest renunciation of his political principles ; but the scru
ples, by which he was determined, were carried too far to be
approved by every body. And yet the men of his party, while
they censured him in this respect, did not think it possible lo
accept without him any of the offices that were offered to them.
The house of Lord Grey offers an example of those domestic
virtues so rare elsewhere in the highest class. His wife, who
lives only for him, is worthy, by her sentiments, ofthe honour
that Heaven has allotted her in uniting her with such a man.
Thirteen children, still young, are educated by their parents,
and live with them, during eight months of the year, at their
country seat in the extremity of England, where they have
hardly ever any other variety than their family circle and their
habitual reading. I happened to be one evening, in London,
in this sanctuary of the most noble and affecting virtues; Lady
Grey had the politeness to ask her daughters to play music ;
and four of these young persons, of angelic candour and grace,
played duets on the harp and piano, with a harmony that was
admirable, and that showed a great habit of practising toge
ther : their father listened to them with affecting sensibility. The
virtues which he displays in his family afford a pledge of the pu
rity of the vows that he makes for his country.
Lord Lansdowne is also a member of the Opposition ; but,
less decided in his political opinions, it is by a profound study
of administration and finance that he has already served, and
will still serve his country. Affluent and high in rank, young
and singularly fortunate in the choice of his domestic partner,
none of these advantages dispose him to indolence ; and it is by
his superior merit that he stands in the foremost rank in a coun
try where nothing can exempt a man from owing distinction to
personal exertion. At his seat at Bowood, 1 have met the most
delightful assemblage of enlightened men that England, and con-:

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 279
sequenlly the world, can offer. Sir James Mackintosh,,pointed
out by public opinion to continue Hume, and to surpass him by
writing the history of the constitutional liberty of England, a
man of such universal information and such brilliancy of con
versation that the English quote him with pride to foreigners,
to prove that, in this respect also, they are capable of taking a
lead ; Sir Samuel Romilly, the luminary and honour of that
English jurisprudence which in itself is the object of the re
spect of all mankind ; poets, literary men not less distinguished
in their career than statesmen in politics ; all contributed to the
pure splendour of such a society, and of the illustrious master
ofthe house. For in England the culture of intellect and the
practice of morality are almost always combined ; in fact to a
certain degree they do not admit of separation.
Lord Harrowby, president of the Privy Council, is na
turally ofthe ministerial or Tory party; but in the same
way that Lord Grey has all the dignity of aristocracy in
his character, Lord Harrowby partakes, by his mental la
bours, of all the knowledge of the liberal party. He knows
foreign literature, and that of France in particular, some
what better than ourselves. I had the honour of seeing him
sometimes amidst the most critical moments of the war before
last; and while in other quarters one is obliged to adopt set
words and manners before a minister, when public affairs are
discussed, Lord Harrowby would have felt himself offended had
people considered him otherwise than personally, when conver
sing on questions of general interest. We see neither at his ta
ble, nor at that of the other English ministers, any of those
subordinate flatterers who surround people of consequence in
an absolute monarchy. There is in England no class in which
such men could be found, nor any men in office who would lis
ten to them. As a speaker, Lord Harrowby is distinguished for
the purity of his language, and the brilliant irony of which he
knows how to make an appropriate use. Accordingly he just
ly attaches much , more importance to his personal reputation
than to his temporary office. Lord Harrowby, seconded by
his intelligent partner, exhibits in his house the most complete
example of what a conversation may be, when literary and po-

280 CONSIDERATIONS ON
litical by turns ; and when both subjects are treated with equal
ease. In France we have a number of women who have acquired
reputation merely by the power of conversation, or by writing
letters which resembled conversation. Madame de Sevigne, is
the first of all in this department ; but subsequently Madame de
Tencjn, Madame du Deffant, Madlle. de l'Espinasse, and seve
ral others, have acquired celebrity by their mental attractions.
I have already said that the state of society in England hardly
admitted of distinction in this way, and that examples of it
were not to be cited. There are, however, several women re
markable as writers : Miss Edgeworth, Madame D'Arblay,
formerly Miss Burney, Mrs. Hannah More, Mrs. Inchbald,
Mrs. Opie, Miss Baillie, are admired in England, and read with
avidity in the French ; but they live in general in great retire
ment, and their influence is confined to their books. Were we
to cite a woman uniting in the highest degree that which consti
tutes the strength and moral beauty of the English character, it
would be necessary to seek her in history.
Lady Russel, the wife of the illustrious Lord Russel, who was
beheaded under Charles II. for opposing the encroachments of
royal power, seems to me the true model of an Englishwoman
in all her perfection. The court that tried Lord Russel, asked
him what person he desired to serve him as secretary during
his trial ; he made choice of Lady Russel, because, said he, she
unites the information of a man to the tender affection of a wife.
Lady Russel, who adored her husband, sustained, nevertheless,
the presence of his iniquitous judges, and the barbarous sophis
try of their questions, with all the presence of mind with which
the hope of being useful inspired her ; but in vain. When the
sentence of death was pronounced, Lady Russel threw herself
at the feet of Charles II., imploring him in the name of Lord
Southampton, whose daughter she was, and who had devoted
himself for ihe cause of Charles I. But the remembrance of
services rendered to the father had no effect on the son, whose
frivolity did nqt prevent his being cruel. Lord Russel, in
parting from his wife to go to the scaffold, pronounced these

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 281
memorable words : " Now the bitterness of death is past."
There are indeed affections of which the whole of our exist
ence may be composed.
Letters written by Lady Russel, after the death of her hus
band, have been published, and bear the stamp of the deepest
affliction, moderated by religious resignation. She lived to
bring up her children ; she lived because she did not think^ it
lawful to give herself a voluntary death. By weeping continu
ally, she became blind, and the remembrance of him she had so
loved was ever alive in her heart. She had one moment of joy
when liberty was established in 1688 ; when the sentence pro
nounced against Lord Russel was repealed, and his opinions
triumphed. The partisans of William III., and Queen Anne
herself, often consulted Lady Russel on public affairs, as hav
ing preserved some sparks of the light of Lord Russel. It was
by that title she answered their call, and, amidst the deep
mourning of her soul, interested herself in the noble cause for
which the blOod of her husband had been shed. She appeared
always the widow of Lord Russel, and it is by the constancy of
that feeling that she claims admiration. Such again would a
true Englishwoman be if a scene so tragical, a trial so terrible,
could be renewed in our days, and if, thanks to liberty, such
calamities were not removed for ever. The duration ofthe sor
rows caused by the loss of those we love, often absorbs, in Eng
land, the life of persons by whom they are felt. If women there
have not personally active habits, they live so much more
strongly in the objects of their attachment. The dead are not
forgotten in that country where the human soul possesses all its
beauty ; and that honourable constancy which struggles with
the instability of this world, exalts the feelings of the heart to
the rank of things eternal.

vol. ii. 36

282 considerations on
CHAPTER VII.
Of the Conduct of the English Government out of England.
In expressing, as muchas I have been able, my admiration for
the English nation, I have never ceased to attribute its superi
ority over the rest of Europe to its political institutions. It re
mains for us to offer a melancholy proof of this assertion : it is
that, in things where the constitution does not command, the
English government justly incurs the same reproaches which
absolute power has ever deserved on earth. If, by some cir
cumstances which are not met with in history, a nation had pos
sessed a hundred years before the rest of Europe, the art of
printing, the compass, and, what is more valuable, a religion
which is only a sanction of the purest morality, that nation
would certainly be far superior to those who had not obtained
similar advantages. The same may be said of the benefits of
a free constitution ; but these benefits are necessarily limited
to the country which that constitution governs. When Eng
lishmen exercise military or diplomatic employments on the
Continent, it is still probable that men brought up in the atmos
phere of all the virtues participate in them individually. But
it is possible that power, which corrupts almost all men, when
they go beyond the circle of the dominion of law, may have mis
led many Englishmen, when they had to render an account of
their conduct abroad to ministers only, and not to the nation.
In truth, that nation, so enlightened in other things, is ill-in
formed of what passes on the Continent: it lives in the interior
of its own country, if we may use the expression, like every man
in his own house ; and it is only after a length of time that it
learns the history of Europe, in which her ministers often act
too great a part, by means of its blood and treasure. The con
clusion is, that every country, at every time, should defend it
self from the influence of foreigners, be they who they may ;

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 283
for the nations who are the most free at home, may have rulers
very jealous ofthe prosperity of other states, and may become
the oppressors of their neighbours, if they find a favourable
opportunity. Let us, however, examine how far there is truth in what is
alleged of the conduct of the English out of their country.
When, unfortunately for themselves, they were obliged to send
troops to the Continent, those troops observed the most perfect
discipline. The disinterestedness of the English army, and of
its commanders, cannot be disputed ; we have seen them pay
ing in an enemy's country more regularly than the enemy paid
their own countrymen, and never do they neglect to blend the
cares of humanity with the calamities of war. Sir Sidney Smith,
in Egypt, protected the envoys of the French army in his own
tent ; and often declared to his allies, the Turks, that he would
perish sooner than suffer the rights of nations to be violated to
wards his enemies. During the retreat of General Moore in
Spain, English officers threw themselves into a river where
some Frenchmen were on the point of drowning, in order to
save them from a danger to which they were exposed by acci
dent,, and not by arms. Tn short, there is no occasion in which
the army of the Duke of Wellington, directed by the magna
nimity and the conscientious severity of its illustrious chief, has
not sought to relieve the inhabitants of the countries through
which it passed. The splendour of English bravery, we must
acknowledge, has never been sullied by cruelty or by pillage.
The military force transported to the colonies, and particu
larly to India, ought not to be made responsible for the acts of
authority of which there may be reason to complain. The re
gular troops obey passively in countries considered as subject
ed, and which are not protected by the constitution. But in the
colonies, no more than elsewhere, can the English officers be ac
cused of depredation; it is the persons holding civil employ
ments who are reproached with enriching themselves by unlaw
ful means. In fact, the conduct of these persons during the
first years ofthe conquest of India deserves the highest blame,
and furnishes another proof of what we cannot too often repeat,

284 considerations on
that every man charged with the command of others, if he is not
himself subject to the law, obeys nothing but his passions. But
since the trial of Mr. Hastings, the attention of the English na
tion being directed towards the frightful abuses which till then
had been tolerated in India, the public spirit has obliged go
vernment to attend to them. Lord Cornwallis carried his vir
tues, and Lord WeUesley his knowledge, to a country necessa
rily unhappy, because subjected to a foreign dominion. But
the good performed by these two governors is felt every day
more and more. There existed no courts of justice in India to
which an appeal could be made from the injustice of men in of
fice ; the proportion of taxes was not at all fixed. Courts are
now established according to the English form ; some natives
even occupy places of the second rank ; the taxes are fixed by
a regular scale, and cannot be augmented. If persons in office
enrich themselves now, it is because their appointments are
very considerable. Three fourths ofthe revenue of the coun
try are consumed in the country itself; commerce is free in the
interior ; the corn trade in particular, which had given rise to
so cruel a monopoly, is now on a footing more favourable to
the natives than to government.
England has adopted the principle of governing the inhabi
tants ofthe country according to their own laws. But the very
toleration by which the English distinguish themselves so ho
nourably from their predecessors in the government of India,
whether Mahometans or Christians, obliges them to employ no
other arms than those of persuasion, to destroy prejudices
which have taken root for thousands of years. The difference
of castes is still humiliating to human nature, and the power of
fanaticism is such, that the English have not hitherto been able
to prevent women from burning themselves alive after the death
of their husbands. The only triumph which they have obtain
ed over superstition has been that of preventing mothers from
throwing their children into the Ganges, in order to send them
to paradise. Respect for an oath is carefully inculcated on the
Hindoos, and hopes are still entertained of being able to diffuse
Christianity among them at some future time. Public educa-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 285
tion is very carefully attended to by the English in authority,
and it was at Madras that Dr. Bell established his first school.
In short, it may be hoped that the example of the English will
form those nations sufficiently to enable them to give themselves
one day an independent political existence. Every enlighten
ed man in England would applaud the loss of India, if it took
place in consequence of the benefits conferred on it by govern
ment. It is one of the prejudices of the Continent to believe
the power of the English connected with the possession of In
dia : that oriental empire is almost an affair of luxury, and con
tributes more to splendour than to real strength. England lost
her American provinces, and her commerce has been increased
by it. Were the colonies that remain to her to declare them
selves independent, she would still possess her naval and com
mercial superiority ; because she has in herself a principle
of action, of progress, and of duration, which places her always
above exterior circumstances.
It has been said on the Continent, that the slave trade was
suppressed in England from political calculation, in order to
ruin the colonies of other countries by that abolition. Nothing
is more false in every point of view. The English parliament,
pressed by Mr. Wilberforce, debated this question during twen
ty years, in which humanity struggled with what apparently
was interest. The merchants of Liverpool, and of various
parts of England, demanded vehemently the continuance Of the
trade. The planters talked of that abolition, as certain persons
in France express themselves at present, on the liberty of the
press, and political rights. If you would believe the planters,
that person must be a Jacobin who could wish to put an end to
the buying and selling of men. Maledictions against philoso
phy, in the name of that superior wisdom which pretends lo rise
above it, by maintaining things as they are, even when they are
abominable ; sarcasms without number on philanthropy to
wards the Africans, or fraternity with negroes; in short, the
whole arsenal of personal interest was poured forth in Eng
land, as elsewhere, by the planters, by that species of privi
leged persons, who, fearing a diminution of their income, dc-

286 considerations ©n
fended it in the name of the public good. Nevertheless, when
England pronounced the abolition of the slave trade, in 1806;,
almost all the colonies of Europe were in her hands, and if
ever it could be injurious to be just, it was on this occasion.
There has since happened, what always will happen — a resolu
tion commanded by religion and philosophy has not produced
the least political inconvenience. In a short space of time
good treatment, by increasing the number of the slaves, has
made up for the wretched cargoes imported every year, and
justice has found her place, because the true nature of things is
always accordant with her.
The English ministry, then of the Whig party, had proposed
a bill for the abolition of the slave trade : they gave in their re
signation to the King, because they had not obtained from him
the emancipation of the Catholics. But Lord Holland, the
nephew of Mr. Fox, and heir of the principles, of the know
ledge, and of the friends of his uncle, reserved to himself the
noble satisfaction of still carrying to the House of Peers the
King's sanction to the act for the abolition of the slave trade.
Mr. Clarkson, one of the virtuous men who "laboured during
twenty years with Mr. Wilberforce, at the accomplishment of
this eminently Christian work, in giving an account of this sit
ting, adds, that at the moment when the bill received the royal
assent, a ray of sunshine, as if to celebrate this affecting triumph,
darted from the clouds, which that day covered the sky. Cer
tainly, if it were tedious to hear so much spoken of the fine
weather which was said to consecrate the military parades of
Bonaparte, pious minds may surely be permitted to hope for a
benevolent token from their Creator, while they are burning on
his altar that incense which is most pleasing to him, the doing
of good to mankind. Such was on this occasion the sole poli
cy of England, and when the parliament, after public debates,
adopts any decision whatever, its principal aim is almost al
ways the benefit of humanity. But can it be denied, it will be
said, that England is encroaching and domineering abroad? I
now come to her faults, or rather to those of hej" ministry ; for

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 287
the party, and a very numerous one it is, that disapproves the
conduct of government in this respect, cannot be accused of it,
There is a people who will one day be very great, I mean
the Americans. One stain only obscures the perfect splendour
of reason that vivifies that country ; slavery still subsists in the
southern provinces ; but when the Congress shall have found a
remedy for that evil, how shall we be able to refuse the most pro
found respect to the institutions of the United States ? Whence
comes it then, that many English allow themselves to speak with
disdain of such a people ? " They are shop keepers," they re
peat. And how did the courtiers of Louis XIV. talk of the Eng
lish themselves ? The people of Bonaparte's court also, what
did they say ? Do not the nobility that are unemployed, or that
are employed only in the service of a prince, disdain that here
ditary magistracy of the English which is founded solely on its
utility to the whole nation ? The Americans, il is true, declared
war against England at a very ill-chosen time, with respect to
Europe ; for England then resisted alone the power of Bona
parte. But America on this occasion looked only to what con
cerned her own interest ; and she can certainly not be suspect
ed of having wished to favour the imperial system. Nations
have not yet attained that noble feeling of humanity which
should extend itself from one part of the world lo the other.
As neighbours they feel a mutual hatred; while those at a dis
tance are unknown to each other. But could that ignorance of
the affairs of Europe, which impelled the Americans to declare
war unseasonably against England, justify the burning of Wash
ington ? It was not warlike establishments that were destroy
ed ; but peaceful edifices, sacred to national representation, to
public instruction, to the transplantation of arts and sciences
into a country recently overspread with forests, and conquered
only by the labour of men from savage nature. What is there
more honourable for mankind than this new world, which has
established itself without the prejudices of the old; this new
world, where religion is in all its fervour, without needing the
support of the^ state to maintain it; where the law commands
by the respect which it inspires, without being enforced by any

288 CONSIDERATIONS ON
military power? Is it possible, alas ! that Europe may be desJ
tiried, like Asia, to exhibit one day the spectacle ofa stationary
civilization, which, not having been able to advance, has be
come degraded. But does it thence- follow that England, old
and free, should refuse the tribute of admiration inspired by the
progress of America, because former resentments, and some
features of resemblance, excite a family hatred between the
two countries ?
Finally, what will posterity say of the recent conduct of the
English ministry towards France ? I confess I cannot approach
this subject without being seized with an inward tremor, and
yet, were it necessary, I would not hesitate to declare, that if
one of the two nations, France or England, must be annihilated,
it would be better that that country which can reckon a hun
dred years of liberty, a hundred years of knowledge, a hundred
years of virtue, should preserve the trust which Providence has
placed in its hands. But does this cruel alternative exist? And
why has not a rivalship of so many ages led the English go
vernment to think, that it is a duty of chivalry, as well as of
justice, not to oppress that France, which in her contests with
England, during the whole course of their common history, ani
mated her efforts by a generous jealousy ? The opposition has
been at all times more liberal, and better informed respecting
the affairs ofthe Continent, than the ministerial party : it ought,
of cpurse, to have been intrusted with the conclusion of peace.
Moreover, it was the rule in England, that peace ought not to
be signed by the same ministers who had conducted the war.
It is felt that the irritation against the enemy, which serves to
carry on war with vigour, leads to the abuse of victory; and
this manner of reasoning is no less just than favourable to real
peace, which must not merely be signed, but must be estab
lished in the mind and heart. Unhappily the party of opposi
tion had committed the error of supporting Bonaparte. It
would have been more natural to have seen his despotic system
defended by the friends of power, and opposed by the friends
of liberty. But the question became perplexed in England, as
eVery where else ; the partisans of the principles of the Revo-

THE I'RENCH REVOLUTION* 289
lution thought it their duty to support a tyranny for life, to pre
vent, in various places, the return of more lasting despotism*
But they did not see that one kind of absolute power opens the
way for all others ; and that by again giving to the French the
habits of servitude, Bonaparte had destroyed the energy of pub
lic spirit. One peculiarity of the English constitution, which
we have already noticed, is the necessity in which the qpposi-
tion believe themselves placed, of opposing the ministry on all
possible grounds. This habit, applicable only to ordinary cir
cumstances, ought to have been relinquished at a crisis when
the contest was so national, that even the existence of the coun
try depended on its issue. The opposition ought to have frank
ly joined government against Bonaparte ; for the government*
by opposing him with perseverance, nobly fulfilled its duty*
The opposition made its stand on the desire of pencej which is,
in general, very welcome to the people ; but, on this occasion^
the good sense and energy of the English impelled them to war.
They felt that it was impossible to treat with Bonaparte; and
all that the ministry and Lord Wellington did to overthrow
him, contributed powerfully to the repose and greatness Of Eng
land. But at this period, when the nation had reached the
summit of prosperity ; at this period, when the English minis
try deserved a vote of thanks for the part it could claim in the
triumph of its heroes, the fatality which seizes all men who
have reached the height of power, marked the treaty of Paris-
with the seal of reprobation.
The English ministry had already had the misfortune to be
represented at the Congress of Vienna, by a man whose private
virtues are highly worthy of esteem, but who has done moreT
harm to the cause of nations than any diplomatist of the Conti
nent. An Englishman who reviles liberty is a false friend, more
dangerous than strangers, since he seems to speak of what he
knows, and to do the honours of what he possesses. The
speeches of Lord Castlereagh in parliament are stamped with a
kind of freezing irony, singularly pernicious when applied to
all that is dignified in this world. For most of those who de
fend generous sentiments are easily discouraged when a minis>
vol. n. 37

290 considerations on
ter in power treats their wishes as chimerical, when he makes
a mockery of liberty, as of perfect love, and puts on the ap
pearance of an indulgent air towards those who cherish it, by
imputing to them nothing but an innocent folly.
The deputies of several countries of Europe, at present weak,
but formerly independent, came to solicit some rights,, some se
curities from the representative of the power which they adored
as free. They returned with an anguished heart, not knowing
whether Bonaparte, or the most respectable nation in the world,
had done them most lasting mischief. Hereafter their confe
rences will be publjshed, and history can hardly present a more
remarkable document. " What !" said they to the English
minister, " does not the prosperity, the glory of your country
arise from this constitution, some principles of which we de
mand, when you are pleased to dispose of us for this pretended
balance of which we form one of the make-weights in your
scales?" " Yes," they were answered, with a sarcastic smile,
's liberty is a usage of England ; but it is not suitable to other
countries." The only one among kings, or among men, that
ever put to the torture not his enemies but his friends, has dis
tributed, according to his good pleasure, the scaffold, the gal
leys, and the prison among citizens, who, having fought in de
fence of their country under the standard of England, claimed
her support as having, by the generous avowal of Lord Wel
lington, powerfully aided his efforts. Did England protect
them? The North Americans would willingly support the A-
mericans of Mexico and Peru, whose love for independence
must have increased when they have seen the torture and the
inquisition restored at Madrid. Well, what fears the Congress
of the North in succouring its brethren of the South? the al
liance of England with Spain. In all directions the influence
of the English government is dreaded, precisely in a contrary
sense to the support which the oppressed have a right to hope
from it.
But let us return, with all our soul and all our strength, to
that France which alone we know. " During twenty-five years,"
it is said, " she has incessantly tormented Europe by her de-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 291
mocratic excesses and her military despotism. England has
suffered cruelly by her continual attacks, and the-English have
made immense sacrifices to defend Europe. It is perfectly just
that in her turn France shouldexpiate the evil of which she has
been the cause." Every thing in these accusations is true, ex
cept the conclusion that is drawn from them. Of what use is
the law of retaliation in general, and above all,, the law of re
taliation exercised against a nation.? Is a people to-day what it
was yesterday ? Does not a new and innocent generation come
to replace that which has been found guilty? Will you com
prise in the same proscription women, children, old men, even,
the victims of the tyranny that has been overthrown I the un
happy conscripts, concealed in woods to escape the wars of Bo
naparte, but who, when forced to carry arms, conducted them
selves like intrepid warriors : the fathers of families ruined al
ready by the sacrifices they have made to purchase the exemp
tion of their sons ; and what, in short I do so many classes of
men, on whom public misfortune presses equally, although they
have certainly not bqrne an equal share in the fault, — do they
deserve to suffer on account of a few ? If it be hardly practica
ble in a question of political opinion to try one man with equity,
how then can a nation be tried ? The conduct of Bonaparte to
wards Prussia was taken as a model in the second treaty of Pa
ris; in pursuance of which fortresses and provinces are occu
pied by one hundred and fifty thousand foreign soldiers. Can
the French be in this manner persuaded that Bonaparte was
unjust, and that they ought to hate him? They would have
been better convinced of it, if his doctrine had in no respect
been followed. And what did the proclamation of the Allies
promise ? Peace to France so soon as Bonaparte should cease
to be her chief. Ought not the promise oi powers, whose de
cisions were free, to be as sacred as the oaths of the French
army pronounced in the presence of foreigners ? And because
the ministers of Europe commit the error of placing in the island
of Elba a General, the sight of whom cannot but excite the
emotions of his soldiers,? must enormous contributions exhaust
the poor during five years? And, what is still more grievous^

£92. considerations on
must foreigners humiliate the French, as the French humiliated
other nations ; that is, provoke, in the soul of Frenchmen, the
same feelings which raised tip Europe against them? Is it sup
posed that the abuse of a nation, formerly so strong, is likely
to be as effectual as the punishment inflicted on striplings at
school ? Certainly, if France allows herself to be instructed in
this manner ; if she learns humility towards foreigners when
they are the stronger party, after having made an abuse of victo
ry when she had triumphed over them, she will have deserved
her fate.
But some persons will still say, what then was to be done to
restrain a nation always prone to conquest, and which had taken
back its former chief only in the hope of /again enslaving Eu
rope 1 I have mentioned in the preceding chapters what I con
sider to be incontestable, that is, that the French nation will
never be sincerely tranquil, until she shall have secured the ob
ject of her efforts, a constitutional monarchy. But in putting
aside for a moment this view of the case, was not the dissolu
tion of the army, the carrying off the artillery, the Jevying con
tributions, a sufficient assurance that France, thus weakened,
Would neither be desirous nor able to go beyond her limits ? Is
it not clear to every observer that the hundred and fifty thousand
men who occupy France have but two objects, either to parti
tion her territory, or to prescribe laws for her interior govern
ment, Partition her territory ! Alas ! since policy committed
the human sacrifice of Poland, the mangled remains of that un
happy country still agitate Europe; its wrecks are incessantly
rekindled to serve it as firebrands. Is it to strengthen the pre
sent government that a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers oc
cupy our territory ? Government has more effectual means of
maintaining itself: for as if is destined to be one day supported
by Frenchmen only, the foreign troops who remain in France,
the exorbitant contributions which they exact, excite daily a
vague discontent which is not always directed to the proper
Objects, I willingly admit, however, that England as well as Europe
had a right to desire the return of the former dynasty of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 293
France ; and that, in particular, the high degree of wisdom
evinced by the King in the first year of his restoration, render
ed it a duty to make him a reparation for the cruel return of
Bonaparte. But ought not the English ministers, tvIio know
better than any ministry whatever, by the history of their coun
try, the effects of a long revolution on the public mind, ought
they not to maintain constitutional securities with as much care
as they maintain the ancient dynasty ? Since they brought back
the royal family, ought they not to be watchful that the rights
of the nation should be as well respected as those of legitima
cy? Is there but one family in France, although that family
be royal ? And ought the engagements taken by that family
towards twenty-five millions of persons to be broken for thesake
of pleasing a few ultra-royalists ?* Shall the name of the charter
be still pronounced at a time when there is not a shadow of the
liberty of the press ; when the English newspapers cannot pe
netrate into France ; when thousands of individuals are impri
soned without examination ; when most of the military men
brought to trial are condemned to death by extraordinary tribu
nals, by prevotal courts martial, by courts composed of the very
men against whom the accused have fought during twenty-five
years; when most ofthe forms are violated in these trials, counsel
interrupted or reprimanded ; in short, when arbitrary rule pre
vails every where, and the charter nowhere, though it ought to
be defended as zealously as the throne, since it was the safe
guard of the nation ? Could it be pretended that the election
of the deputies who suspended that charter was regular? Do
we not know that twenty persons named by the prefects were
sent into each electoral college to make choice there of the ene
mies of every free institution as pretended representatives Ofa
nation which, since 1789, has been invariable only on one single
point, the hatred that it has shown for their power ? A hundred
and eighty -Protestants were massacred in the department of the
* All this was written during the session of 1815, and it is known that no one was
more eager than Madame de Stael to do homage to the beneficial e (feels of the
(tfdonnance 'Of the 5th of September of that year .--(AWe oftU Editors^

294 considerations on
Gard, without a single man having suffered death in punishment
of these crimes, without the terror caused by these assassina
tions having permitted the courts to condemn them. It was
very readily asserted that those who perished were Bonapart
ists, as if it were not also necessary to prevent Bonapartists
from being massacred. But this imputation was likewise as
false as all those which are commonly cast upon victims. The
man who has not been tried, is innocent; still more the man
who is assassinated ; still more the women who have perished
in these bloody scenes. The murderers, in their atrocious
songs, pointed out for the poignard those who profess the same
religion as the English, and the most enlightened half of Eu
rope. This English ministry, which has re-established the pa
pal throne, sees the Protestants threatened in France ; and far
from coming to their aid, adopts against them those political
pretexts which the parties have employed against each other
from the beginning of the Revolution. An end should be put
to the argument of force which might be applied in turn to the
opposite factions by merely changing proper names. Would
the English government now have the same antipathy for the,
worship of the reformers as for republics ? Bonaparte also
was in many respects of this way of thinking. The inheritance.
of his principles is fallen to certain diplomatists, like the con
quests of Alexander to his generals ; but conquests, however
much to be condemned, are better than a doctrine founded on
the degradation of mankind.
Will the English ministry still be permitted to say that it con
siders it a duty not to interfere in the interior affairs of France 1
Must it not be interdicted from such an excuse ? I ask it in the
name of the English people ; in the name of that nation whose
first virtue is sincerity, and which is unconsciously led astray
into political perfidy. Can we repress the laugh of bitterness
when he hear men, who have twice disposed of the fate of
France, urge this hyprocritical pretext only to avoid do
ing her a service, only to avoid restoring to the Protest
ants the security that is due to them, to avoid demand
ing the sincere execution of the constitutional charter? for
the friends of liberty are also the brethren of the English pep-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 29$
pie in religion. What, Lord Wellington is officially charged
by the powers of Europe with superintending France, since he is
charged to answer for her tranquillity ; the note that invests him
with that power is published; in that same note the allied pow
ers have declared, and the declaration is honourable to them,
that they considered the principles of the constitutional' charter
to be those that ought to govern France ; a hundred and fifty
thousand men are under the orders of him to whom Sucha dic
tatorship is granted ; and the English government will still
come forward and say that it cannot interfere in our affairs ?
Lord Castlereagh, who, in his capacity of Secretary of State,
had declared, in the House of Commons, several weeks before
the battle of Waterloo,* that England did not in any manner
pretend to impose a government upon France, the same man, in
the same place, declares the following year, t that if, at the ex
piration ofthe five years, France should be represented by
another government, the English ministry would not be so ab
surd as to consider itself bound by the conditions of the treaty.
But in the same speech in which this incredible declaration is
made, the scruples ofthe Noble Lord, in regard to the influence
of the English government in France, revive, as soon as he is
asked to prevent the massacres of the Protestants, and to
guaranty to the French people some of the rights which it can
not lose, without lacerating its bosom by civil war, or without
biting the dust like slaves. And let it not be pretended that
the English people desires to make its enemies bear its yoke !
It is proud, it has a right to be so, of twenty-five years and a
day. The battle of Waterloo has filled it with a just pride.
Ah ! nations that have a country, partake the laurels of victory
with the army ! citizens should be warriors, warriors are citi
zens ; and of all the joys which God permits to man on earth,
the most lively is perhaps that ofthe triumph of one's country.
But this noble emotion, far from stifling generosity, re-animates
it ; and if the voice of Mr. Fox, so long admired, could be once

* Debate of 25th May, 1815.
t Debate ef 19th February, 1816.

296 CONSIDERATIONS ON
more heard ; if he should ask why English soldiers acted as
jailers to France ; why the army of a free, people treats ano
ther people like a prisoner of war who has fo pay his ransom to
hjs conquerors : the English nation would learn, that an injus
tice is committed in its name ; and from that instant there would
arise from all quarters, in its bosom, advocates of the cause of
France. Could it not be asked, in the midst of the English par
liament, what England would now be if the troops of Louis XIV.
had taken possession of her territory at the time of the restora
tion of Charles II. ; if they had seen encamped in Westminster
the French army that had triumphed on the Rhine ; or, what
would have. been still more disastrous, the army which subse
quently fought against the Protestants of the Cevennes ? These
armies would have re-established the Catholic worship and
suppressed parliaments ; for we see, from the despatches of the
French ambassadors, that Louis XIV. offered them to Charles
II. with that intention. What would England then have be
come? Europe would have heard of nothing but the murder of
Charles I., ofthe excesses ofthe Puritans in favour of equality,
ofthe despotism of Cromwell, who made himself he felt abroad
as at home, since Louis XIV. put on mourning for him. Wri
ters would have been found to maintain, that this turbulent and
sanguinary people ought to be brought back to its duty, and
ought to resume the institutions that were those of their fathers,
at the time when their fathers had lost the liberty of their ances
tors. But should we have seen that fine country at the height
of power and glory which the universe admires at this day ? An
unsuccessful attempt to obtain liberty would have received the
name of rebellion, crime, in short, every epithet lavished on na
tions when they desire to have rights, and do not know how to
obtain possession of them. The countries which were jealous
ofthe maritime power of England under Cromwell, would have
taken delight in her humiliation. The ministers of Louis XIV.
would have said, that the English were not made to be free, and
Europe would not have been able to contemplate the beacon
which has guided her in the tempest, and ought to direct her
course in the calm.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 297
There are in France, it is said, none but extreme royalists or
Bonapartists ; and the two parties are equally, it must be con
fessed, favourers of despotism. The friends of liberty are, it is
asserted, in small number, and without strength to compete
against these two inveterate factions. The friends of liberty,
being virtuous and disinterested, cannot, I admit, contend ac
tively against the eager passions of those whose only objects
are money and place. But the nation is with them ; all who
are not paid, or do not aim at being paid, are on their side.
The progress of the human mind is favourable to them from the
very nature of things. They will succeed gradually, but sure
ly, in founding in France a constitution similar to that of Eng
land, if England herself, who is the guide of the Continent, for
bid her ministers to show themselves every where the enemies
of the principles' which she so well knows how to maintain at
home.

¦yoLo n*

38

298 consideI&tiqns on
CHAPTER VIII.
Will not the English hereafter lose their Liberty ?
A Number of enlightened persons, Who know to what a height
the prosperity of the French natibn would rise, were the politi
cal institutions of England established among them, are per
suaded that the English are actuated by a previous jealousy,
and throtfr every obstacle in the way of their rivals obtaining
the enjoyment of that liberty of which they know the advanta*
ges, In truth, I do not believe in such a feeling, at least on the
part of the nation, It has pride ertough to be convinced, and
with reason, that for a long time still it will take the lead of all
others ; and were Fiance to overtake and even surpass her in
some respects, England would still preserve exclusive sources
pfppwer, peculiar to her situation. As to the ministry, he who
directs it, fhe Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, seems to
foye, as I have said, and as he himself has proved, such a con
tempt for liberty, that I verily believe he would dispose of it at
a cheap rate even to France ; and yet the prohibition of export
fro.in England has been almost entirely confined to the princi
ples of liberty, while we, on the other hand, would have wished
that, in this respect also, the English had been pleased to impart
tp us the products of their industry.
The English government desires, at whatever sacrifice, to
avoid a renewal of war ; but it forgets that the most absolute
kings of France were perpetually forming hostile projects
against England, and that a free constitution is a far better
pledge for the stability of peace than the personal gratitude of
princes. But what ought above all, in my opinion, to be repre
sented to the English, even to those who are exclusively occu
pied with the interests of their country, is, that if, for the sake
pf preventing the French from being factious or free, term it as
you will, an English army must be kept up in the territory of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 299
France, the liberty of England becomes exposed by this con
vention, so Unworthy of her. A people does not accustom it*
self to violate national independence among its neighbours.
without losing some degrees of energy, some shades in the pu^
rity of doctrine, when the point is to profess at home what is
disavowed abroad. England partitioning Poland, England oc
cupying Prussia in the style of Bonaparte, would have less
strength to resist the encroachments of its own government in
the interior. An army on the Continent may involve her h>
new wars, and the state of her finances should make these wars
an object of dread. To these considerations, which have already
been warmly agitated in parliament at the time of the discus
sion ofthe property tax, we must add the most important.of all,
the imminent danger of the military spirit. The English, in
doing injury to France, in c? ing thither the poisoned arrows
of Hercules, may, like Phil etes, inflict a wound on them
selves. They humiliate the r rival, they trample her under
foot, but let them beware. The contagion threatens them ;
and if, in compressing their enemies, they should stifle the sa
cred fire of their own public spirit, the vengeance or the policy
to which they abandon themselves would burst, like bad fire
arms, in their hands.
The enemies of the English constitution on the Continent are
incessantly repeating that it will perish by the corruption of
parliament, and that ministerial influence will increase to such
a point as to annihilate liberty : nothing of the kind is to be
dreaded. The English parliament always obeys national opi
nion, and that opinion cannot be corrupted, in the sense attach
ed to that expression, that is, be bribed. But that which is se«
ductive for a whole nation is, military glory ; the pleasure which
the youth find in a camp life, the ardent enjoyments procured to
them by success in war, are much more conformable to the taste
of their age than the lasting benefits of liberty. A man must
possess a degree of talent to rise in a civil career; but every,
vigorous arm can handle a sabre, and the difficulty of distin
guishing one's self in the military profession is by no means in
proportion to the trouble necessary to acquire information and

300 CONSIDERATIONS ON
habits of reflection. The employments,' which in that career
become numerous, give government the means of holding in its
dependence a very great number of families. The newly in
vented decorations offer - to vanity recompenses which do not
flow from the source of all fame, public opinion; in short,, to
keep up a considerable standing army is to sap the edifice of
liberty in its foundation.
In a country where 4aw reigns, and where bravery, founded
on patriotic feelings, is superior to all praise, in a country
wbere the militia are equally good with the regulars, where,
in a moment, the threat of a descent created not only an in
fantry, but a cavalry equally fine and intrepid, why forge the
instrument of despotism ? ¦ All those political reasonings on
the balance of Europe, those old systems which serve as a pre
text to new usurpations, were they not known by the proud
friends of English liberty when they would not permit the ex
istence of a standing army, at least in such numbers as to make
it a support to government ? The spirit of subordination and
of, command together, that spirit necessary in an army, ren
ders men incapable of knowing and respecting what is national
in political powers. Already do we hear some English officers
murmuring despotic phrases, although their accent and their
language seem to yield with difficulty to the dishonoured words
of servitude.
Lord Castlereagh said in the House of Commons that Eng
land could not rest contented with blue coats, while all Europe
was in arms. It is, however, the blue coats which have ren
dered the Continent tributary to England. It is because com
merce and finances had liberty for their basis, that is, because
the representatives of the nation lent their strength to govern
ment, that the lever which has poised the world was enabled
to find its' supporting point in *an island less considerable
than any of the countries to which she lent her aid. Make of
this country a camp, and soon after a court, and you will see
its misery and humiliation. But could the danger, which his
tory points put in every page, not be foreseen, not be repelled
by the first thinkers in Europe, whom the nature of the English

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 301
government calls to take a part in public affairs t Military
glory, doubtless, is the only seduction to be dreaded by ener
getic men ; but as there is an energy far superior to that of the
profession of arms, the love of liberty, and as this liberty in
spires at once the highest degree of valour when our country
is exposed, and the greatest disdain for the military spirit when
subordinate to a perfidious diplomacy ; We ought to hope that
the good sense of the English people, and the intelligence of its
representatives, will save liberty from the only enemy against
which it has to guard — continual war, and that military spirit
which war brings in its train.
What a~ contempt for knowledge, what impatience ofthe
restraints of law, what a desire of power do we not see in all
those that have long led the life of camps ! Such men find as much
difficulty in submitting to liberty as the nation in submitting to
arbitrary rule ; and, in a free country, it is necessary that as
far as possible every man should be a soldier, but that no one
should be so exclusively. English liberty having nothing to
dread but a military spirit, parliament, it seems to me, should
on that account take into its serious consideration the situation
of France ; it ought to do so likewise from that universal feel
ing of justice, which is to be expected from the most enlight
ened assembly in Europe. Its own interest commands it, it is
necessary to restore the spirit of liberty, naturally weakened
bythe reaction caused by the French Revolution ; it is neces
sary to prevent the pretensions of vanity in the continental style
which have found their way into certain families. The English
nation in all its extent is the aristocracy of the rest of the world
by its knowledge and virtues. What would a few puerile dis
putes on genealogy be beside this intellectual pre-eminence ?
Finally, it is necessary to put an end to that contempt for na
tions on which the policy of the day is founded. That con
tempt,- artfully spread abroad, might, like religious incredulity,
attack the foundation of the finest of creeds, in the very country
where its temple has been consecrated.
Parliamentary reform, the emancipation of the Catholics,
the situation of Ireland, all the different questions which can

302 CONSIDERATIONS ON
still be agitated in the English parliament will be resolved in
conformity to the national interest, and do not threaten the
state with any danger. Parliamentary reform may be accom
plished gradually, by giving annually some additional members
to towns that have lately become populous, and by sup
pressing, with indemnities, the rights of certain boroughs
which have now scarcely any voters. But property has such a
sway in Ehgland, that the partisans of disorder would never
be chosen representatives of the people, were a parliamentary -
reform in all its extent to be accomplished in a single day.
Men of talent without fortune might perhaps thus lose the pos-*
sibility of being returned, as the great proprietors of either
party would no longer have seats to give to those who have not
the property necessary to get elected in counties and towns.
The emancipation of the Irish Catholics is demanded by the
spirit of universal toleration, which ought to govern the world ;
yet those who oppose it, do not reject this or that worship;
but they dread the influence of a foreign sovereign, the Pope,
in a country where the rights of ckizens should take priority
of every thing. It is- a question which the interest of the coun
try will decide, because the liberty of the press and of public
debate allows no ignorance to prevail in England in what con
cerns the interior of the country. Not a fault would be com
mitted "Were foreign affairs equally well understood in that as
sembly. It is of serious importance to England that the con
dition of Ireland should be different from what it has hitherto
been ; a greater share of comfort, and consequently of infor
mation, ought to be diffused there. The union with England
ought to procure to the Irish people the blessings ofthe consti
tution ; and so long as the English government insists on the ne
cessity of arbitrary acts for suspending the law, it has by no
means accomplished its task, and Ireland cannot be sincerely
identified with a country which does not impart to it all its rights.
Finally, the administration of Ireland is a bad example for the
English, a bad school for their statesmen ; and were England
to subsist long between Ireland and France in the present state
of things, she would find it difficult to avoid suffering from the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 303
perverse influence, which her government exercises habitu
ally on the one, and at the present moment on the other.
A people can confer happiness on the man who serves them,
only by the satisfaction of his conscience ; they cannot inspire
attachment to any but the friends of justice, to hearts disposed
to sacrifice their interest to their duty. Many and many a
heart is there of this nature in England ; there are, in these
reserved characters, hidden treasures to be discerned only by
sympathy, but which show themselves With force, a3 soon as
the occasion calls, them forth : it is on . these that the main
tenance of liberty reposes. All the aberrations of France have
not thrown the' English into opposite extremes ; and although,
at this moment, the diplomatic conduct of their government be
highly reprehensible, parliament lets no session pass without
improving some old law, framing new ones, discussing ques
tions of jurisprudence, agriculture, or political economy, with
an intelligence • always on the increase ; in short, making a
daily advance to improvement: while people, i|other countries
would gladly turn into ridicule that progress, without which
society would have no object that could be rationally ex
plained. But will English liberty escape that operation pf time which
has devoured every thing on earth. Human foresight is not
capable of penetrating, into remote futurity ; yet we see, in his
tory, republics overturned by conquering empires, or destroy^
ing themselves by their own conquests ; we see the nations of
the North taking possession of countries in the South, because
these countries fell into decay, and also because the necessity
of civilization carried a part of the inhabitants of Eorope with
violence towards her southern regions. Every where we have
seen nations perish from want of public spirit, from want of
knowledge, and, above all, in consequence of the prejudices
which, by subjecting the most numerous part of a people to a
state of slavery, servitude, or any other injustice, rendered it
foreign to the country which it alone could defend. But in the
actual state of social order in England, after the duration, for a
century, of institutions which have fornjed the most religious,

304 CONSIDERATIONS ON
most moral, and most enlightened nation of which Europe can
boast, I should be unable to conceive in what way the pros
perity of a country, that is, its liberty, could ever be threaten
ed. At the very moment when the English government leans
towards the doctrine of despotism, although it was a despot
with whom it contended ; at the very moment when legitimacy,
violated in a formal manner by the Revolution of 1688, is held
up by the English government as the only principle necessary
to social order ; in this moment of temporary deviation, one
already perceives that by degrees the vessel of the state will
regain its balance : for pf all storms^ that which prejudice can
excite is the most easily calmed in the country of so many
great men, in the centre of so much knowledge.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 305

CHAPTER IX-
Can a limited Monarchy have other Foundations than that ofthe
English Constitution.
We find in Swift's Works, a small tract entitled Polite Conver
sation, which comprises all the common-place ideas that enter
into the discourse of the fashionable world. A man of parts
had a plan of making a similar essay on the political conversa
tions of the present day. " The English constitution is suitable
only to Englishmen ; the French are not worthy of receiving
good laws : people should be on their guard against theory and
adhere to practice." What signifies it, say some, that these
phrases are tiresome, if they convey a true meaning ? But it is
their very falsehood that makes th^m tiresome. Truth, on cer
tain topics, never becomes common, however often repeated ;
for every man who pronounces it, feels and expresses it in his
own way; but the watch-words of party spirit are the undoubt
ed signs of mediocrity. We may almost take for granted that
a conversation beginning by these official sentences promises
only a combination of tedium and sophistry. Laying aside then
that frivolous language which aims at profundity, it seems to me
that thinking men have not even yet discovered other princi
ples of monarchical and constitutional liberty than those which
are admitted in England.
Democrats will say that there ought to be a king without a
patrician body, or that there ought to be neither ; but experience
has demonstrated the impracticability of such a system. Of
the three powers, aristocrats dispute only that of the people :
thus, when they pretend that the English constitution cannot be
adapted to France, they merely say that there must be no re
presentatives of the people ; for it is certainly not a nobility or
hereditary royalty which they dispute. It is thus evident that
we cannot deviate from the English constitution without esfa-
vot. 11, 39

306 CONSIDERATIONS OM
Wishing a republic, by retrenching, hereditary succession ; or a
depotism, by suppressing the commons : for, of the three pow
ers, it is impossible to take any one away without producing
one or other of these two extremes.
After such a revolution as that of France, constitutional mo
narchy is the only peace, the only treaty of Westphalia, if we
may use the expression, which can be concluded between ac
tual knowledge and hereditary interests ; between almost the
whole nation and the privileged classes supported by the pow
ers of Europe.
The King of England enjoys a power more than sufficient for
a man who wishes to do good ; and I can hardly conceive how
it is that religion does not inspire princes with scruples on the
use of unbounded authority : pride in this case gets the ascend
ency over virtue. As to the common-place argument of the
impossibility of being free in a continental country, where a
numerous standing army must be kept up, the same persons
who are incessantly repeating it are ready, to quote England
for a contrary purpose, and to say that in that country a stand
ing army is not at present dangerous to liberty. The discre
pancy in the reasonings of those who renounce every principle
goes to an unheard-of length : they avail themselves of circum
stances when theory is against them ; of theory, when circum
stances demonstrate their errors : finally, they wheel round
with a suppleness which cannot escape the broad light of dis
cussion, but which may mislead the mind when it is not per
mitted either to silence or to answer false reasoners. If a stand
ing army give greater power to the King of France than to the
King of England, the ultra-royalists, according to their way of
thinking, will enjoy that excess of strength, and the friends of
liberty do not dread it, if the representative government and its
securities are established in France with sincerity and without
exception. The existence of a. Chamber of Peers necessarily
reduces, it is true, the number of noble families : but will pub
lic interest suffer by this change ? Would the families known in
history complain of seeing associated in the peerage new men,
whom the sovereign and public opinion might think worthy of

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 30?
that honour ? Should the noblesse, which has most to do to re
concile itself with the nation, be the most obstinately attached to
inadmissible pretensions ? We French people have the advan
tage of being more ingenious, but at the same time, more stupid
than any other people of Europe : I am not aware that we ought
to boast of it.
Arguments deserving a more serious examination, because
they are not inspired by mere frivolous pretensions^ were re
newed against the Chamber of Peers at the time of Bonaparte's
last constitution. Human reason had, it was said, made too
great progress in France, to bear with any hereditary distinc
tions. M. Necker had treated that question fifteen years be
fore, like a writer undaunted either by the vanity of prejudices
or the foppery of theories ; and it appears to me admitted by
every reflecting mind, that the respect with which a preserving
element surrounds a government is to the advantage of liberty
as well as order, by rendering a recurrence to force less neces
sary. What obstacle would there then be in France more than
in England, to the existence ofa numerous, imposing,' and en
lightened House of Peers ? The elements of it exist, and we al
ready see how easy it would be to give them a happy combina
tion* What, it will still be said, for all political sayings are worth
the trouble of being combated, on account of the multitude of
common minds who respect them; you then wish that France
should be nothing but a copy, and a bad copy, of the English
government ? Truly I do not see why the French or any other
nation should reject the use of the compass because they were
Italians who discovered it, There are in the administration of
a country, in its finances, in its commerce, in its armies, a num
ber of things connected with localities, and necessarily varying
according to them ; but the fundamental parts of a constitution
are the same throughout. The republican or monarchical form
is prescribed by the extent and situation of a country ; but there
are always three elements given by nature; deliberation, exe
cution, and preservation ; and these three elements are neces
sary to secure to the citizens their liberty, their fortune, the

308 CONSIDERATIONS ON
peaceful development of their faculties, and the rewards due to
their labour. What people isthere to whom such rights are
not necessary, and by what other principles than those of Eng
land, can we obtain their lasting enjoyment ? Can even all the
defects, which people are so ready to attribute to the French,
serve as a pretext to refuse them such rights ? In truth, were
the French rebellious children, as their great parents in Europe
pretend, I would the rather advise giving them a constitution,
which should be in their eyes a pledge of equity in those who
govern them ; for rebellious children, when in such numbers,
can be more easily corrected by reason than restrained by
force. A lapse of time will be necessary in France before it will be
practicable to create a patriotic aristocracy ; for the Revolution
having been directed still more against the privileges of the
nobles than against the royal authority, the nobility now second
despotism as their safeguard. It might be said with some truth
that this state of things is an argument against the creation of a
chamber of peers, as too favourable to the power of the crown.
But first, it is in the nature of an upper house in general to lean
towards the throne ; and the opposition of the peers in England
is almost always a minority. Besides, there can be introduced
into a chamber of peers, a number of noblemen friendly to li
berty ; and those who may not be so to-day, will become so from
the mere circumstance that the discharge of the duties of a high
magistracy alienates a person from a court life, and attaches him
to the interest of the country. I shall not fear to profess a
sentiment which a number of persons will term aristocratic, but
with which all the circumstances of the French Revolution have
impressed me: it is, that the noblemen who have adopted the
cause of a representative government, and consequently of
equality before the law, are, in general, the most virtuous and
most enlightened Frenchmen of whom we can yet boast. They
combine, like the English, the spirit of chivalry with the spirit
of liberty ; they have, besides, the generous advantage of found
ing their opinions on their sacrifices, while the commonalty
must necessarily find its own in the general interest. In short,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 309
they have to support, almost daily, the ill-will of their class,
sometimes even of their immediate relations. They are told
that they are traitors to their order because they are faithful to
the country; while men of the opposite extreme, democrats
without the restraint of reason or morality, have persecuted
them as enemies of liberty, looking to nothing but, their privi
leges, and refusing, very unfairly, to believe in the sincerity of
their renunciation. These illustrious citizens, who have volun
tarily, exposed themselves to so many trials, are the best guar
dians of liberty on which a country can rely ; and a house of
peers ought to be created for them, even if the necessity of such
an' institution in a constitutional monarchy were not acknowled
ged even to demonstration.
" No kind of deliberative assembly, whether democratic or
hereditary, can succeed in France. The French are too de
sirous of making a display, and the necessity of producing
effect carries them always from one extreme to another." "It
is sufficient then," say certain men, who constitute themselves
the guardians of the nation, that they may declare it in a per
petual minority ; " it is sufficient then that France have pro
vincial states instead of a representative assembly." Certainly
I ought to respect provincial assemblies more highly than any
one, since my father was the first and the only minister who
established them, and who lost his place for having supported
them against the, parliaments. It is doubtless very wise, ina
country of such extent as France, to give the local authorities
more power and more importance than in England ; but when
M. Necker proposed to assimilate, by provincial assemblies,
the provinces called elective to the provinces that had states ;
(pays d'etat ;) that is, to give to the old provinces the privi
leges possessed only by those whose union to France had been
more recent, there was at Paris a parliament which could re
fuse to register money edicts, or any other law emanating di
rectly from the throne. This right of parliament was a very
bad outline of a representative government, but however it
was one ; and now that all the former limits of the throne are
overturned, what would be thirty- three provincial assemblies.

310 CONSIDERATIONS ON
dependent on ministerial despotism, and possessing no means
of opposing it ? It is good that local assemblies should dis
cuss the repartition of taxes and verify the public expenses;
but popular forms in the provinces, subordinate to an unlimited
central power, is a great political deformity.
Let us frankly say that no constitutional government can be
established, if, in the outset, we introduce into all places, whether
of deputies or of the agents ofthe executive power, the enemies
of the constitution itself. The first condition to enable a repre
sentative government to proceed, is that the elections should
be free ; for they will then produce in men of integrity a wish
for the success of the institution, of which they will form a
part. A deputy is alleged to have said in company, " People
accuse me. of not being for the constitutional charter ; they are
very wrong, 1 am always mounted on this charter ; but it is in
deed to ride it to death." Yet after this charming effusion, this
deputy would probably take it very much amiss fo be suspect
ed of wanting good faith in politics ; but it is too much to de
sire to unite the pleasure of revealing one's secrets to the ad
vantage of keeping them. Do people think that, with these
concealed, or rather with these too well-known intentions, a
fair experiment of representative government is made in
France ? A minister declared lately in the Chamber of Depu
ties, that; of all powers, the one over which royal authority
should exercise the greatest influence, was the power of elec
tions ; which is saying, in other terms, that the representatives
of the people ought to be named by the King. At that rate
the officers of the Household ought to be named by the people.
Let the French nation elect the men she shall think worthy
of her confidence, let not representatives be imposed on her,
and, least of all, representatives chosen among the constant
enemies of every representative government : then, and then
only, will the political problem be solved in France. We may,
1 believe, consider it a certain maxim, that when free institu
tions have subsisted twenty years in a country, it is on them
the blame must be cast, if we do not perceive a daily improve
ment in the morality, the intelligence, and the happiness of the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 311
nation that possesses them. It is for these institutions, when
arrived at a certain age, to answer, if we may say so, for men ;
but at the commencement ofa new political establishment, it is
for men to answer for the institutions : for we can in no degree
estimate the strength of a citadel if, the commanding officers
open the'gates, or attempt to undermine the foundations.

312 CONSIDERATIONS ON

CHAPTER X^
Of the Influence of arbitrary Power on the Spirit and Character
of a Nation,
Frederic II., Maria Theresa, and Catharine II., inspired so
just an admiration by their talents for governing, that it is very
natural, in the countries where their memory still lives and
their system is strictly followed, that the public should feel,
less than in France, the necessity of representative govern
ment. On the other hand, the Regent and Louis XV. gave in
the last century a most melancholy example of all the misfor
tunes, of all the degradations attached to arbitrary power.
We repeat then that we have here France only in view : and
she must not suffer herself, after twenty-seven years of revo
lution, to be deprived of the advantages she has reaped, and
be made to bear the double dishonour of being conquered at
home and abroad.,
The partisans of arbitrary power quote the reigns of Augus
tus in ancient history, of Elizabeth and of Louis XIV. in modern
times, as a proof that absolute monarchy can at least be favour
able to the progress of literature. Literature, in the time of
Augustus, ^»as little more than a liberal art, foreign topelitical
interests. Under Elizabeth, religious ; reform stimulated the
mind to every kind of -development ; and the government was
the more favourable to it as its strength lay in the very esta-*
blishment of that reform. The literary progress of France
under Louis XIV. was caused, as we have already mentioned.*
in the beginning of this work, by the display of intellect called
forth bythe civil wars. That progress led to the literature of
the eighteenth century ; and so far is it from being right to at
tribute to the government of Louis XIV. the masterpieces of
human intellect that appeared in that age, we must rather con
sider them almost all as attacks on that government. Despot-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 313
ism then, if it well understands its interest, will not encourage
literature, for literature leads men to think, and thought passes
sentence on desgpii^m. Bonaparte directed the public mind
towards military success ; he was perfectly right according to
his object : there are but two kinds of auxiliaries for absolute
power, the priesthood and the soldiery. But are there not, it
is said, enlightened despotisms, moderate despotisms ? None
of these epithets, by which people flatter themselves they will
produce an illusion in regard to the word to which they are ap
pended, can mislead men of good sense. In a country like
France, you must destroy knowledge, if you wish the principles
of liberty not to revive. During the reign of Bonaparte, and
subsequently, a third method hasf been adopted: it was to
make the press instrumental to the oppression of liberty by
permitting the use of it only to certain writers, enjoined to
comment on every error with the more assurance that it was
forbidden to reply to them. This is consecrating the art of
writing to the destruction of thought, and publicity itself to
darkness ; but deception of this kind cannot long continue.
When government wishes to command without law, its support
must be sought in force, not in arguments ; for though it be
forbidden to refute them, the palpable falsehood of these argu
ments suggests a wish to combat them ; and to silence men
effectually, the best plan is not to speak to them.
It would certainly be unjust not to acknowledge that various
sovereigns in possession of arbitrary power have known hOw to
use it with discretion ; but is it on a chance that the lot of na
tions should be staked ? I shall here quote an expression of the
Emperor Alexander, which seems to me worthy of being conse
crated. I had the honour of seeing him at Petersburg, at the
most remarkable moment of. his life, when the French were ad
vancing on Moscow, and when, by refusing the peace which
Bonaparte offered, as soon as he thought himself the^ victor^
Alexander triumphed over his enemy mpre dexterously than
his' generals did afterwards. " You are not ignorant," said the
Emperor of Russia to me, " that the Russian peasants • are
slaves. I do what I can to improve their situation gradually
vol. n. 40

314 CONSIDERATIONS ON
in my dominions ; tyit. I meet elsewhere with obstacles which
the tranquillity of the empire. enjoins me to treat with caution.'.'
" Sire," answered I, "I know that, Russia is at present happy,
although she has no other constitution than the personal , charac
ter of your Majesty." — " Even, if the compliment you pay me
Were true," replied the. Emperor, " / should be nothing more
than a fortunate accident." Fmer expressipns:CpuId not, 1 think,
have been pronounced by a monarch whose situation was, calcu
lated to blind him in regard to the condition of men. Not only
does arbitrary power deliver nations to ihe chances of heredita
ry succession ; but the most enlightened kings, if they are abso
lute, could not, if they would, encourage in theirnation strength
and dignity of character. Qod and the law alone can command
nian, in the tone of a master, withput degrading him.
Dp people figure tp themselves, how ministers, such as Lord
Chatham, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, would have heen supported by
the princes whp appointed Cardinal. Dubois, or Cardinal Fleu-
ry ? Thp; great men in French history, the Guises, Coligny,
Henry VI., were formed in times of trouble, because those
troubles, in other respects disastrous,, prevented the stifling ac
tion of despotism, and gave a great importance tp certain indi
viduals, ^ut in England only is political life so regularly con
stituted, that genius and greatness of, soul can arise and show
themselves without agitating the slate.
From Lpuis XIV. to Louis XVI. half a century elapsed : a
true m°del|Q^ what is called arbitrary government, when people
wish tp represent it in its mildest colours. There was not ty>
tanny, because the means to establish^ it were wanting ; but it
was only through the disorder, of injustice that any liberty cpukj
pe secretly acquired. He who wished to become of any ac
count, or to succeed in any business, was obliged to study the
intrigue of courts, the most miserable, science that ever degra
ded mankind. There is there no question either of talents or
virtii.es 7 for never would a superior man have the kind of pa
tience necessary to please a monarch, echicatefiin the habits of
absolute power. Princes thus formed are so persuaded, that it
is always personal interest which suggests what'is told to them,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 315
that it must be without their consciousness that one can have in
fluence over them. Now, for this kind of success, to be always
on the spot is better than the possession of every possible ta
lent. Princes stand in the same relation to courtiers as We to
our servants: we should be offended if fhey gave us advice, 'if
they spoke to us in an urgent tone, even on our own interests;
we are displeased to see them put ort a discontented look ; but
a few words, addressed to us at an appropriate moment, a few
flatteries which would appear to fall accidentally from them,
would completely govern us, if our eqUals, whom we meet on
leaving oUr house, did not teach us what we are. Princes,
having to do only with servants of penetration, who insinuate
themselves more easily into their favour than our attendants
into ours, live and die without ever having an idea of the real
state of things. But Courtiers, though they study the character
of their master with a good deal of sagacity, do not acquire any
rearinformatiPn even as to the knowledge of the human heart,
at least that knowledge that 'is necessaiy to direct nations. A
King shPuld make it a rule to take as prime minister a man dis
pleasing to him as a courtier ; for never can a superior mind
bend itself to the exaci point necessary to captivate those to
whom incense is offered. A certain tact, half common, half re
fined, serves to make one's way at court : eloquence, reasoning,
all the transcendent faculties of tbe mind and soul, would offend
like rebellion, or would be overpowered with ridicule. " What
unsuitable discourse ; what ambitious projects !" would say the
one, " What does he wish ; what does he mean !" would say the
other; and the prince would participate in the astonishment of
his court. The atmosphere of etiquette operates eventually oh
every body to such a degree, that I know no one sufficiently
bold to articulate a significant word in the circle of princes whp
have remained shut up in their courts. The conversations must
be unavoidably confined to the fine weather, to the chase, to
what they drank yesterday, to what they will eat to-morrow ;
in short, to ail sorts of things that have neither meaning nor iri-
teresl for any body. What a school is this for the mind, and for
the character! what a sad spectacle is an old courtier, who has

316 CONSIDERATIONS ON
passed many years in the habits of stifling all his feelings, dis
sembling his opinions, waiting the breath Of a prince that he
•may respire, and his signal that he may move ! Such men, at
last, destroy the finest of all sentiments, respect for old age,
when they are seen, bent by the habit of bowing, wrinkled by
false smiles, pale more from ennui than from years, and stand
ing for hours together on their trembling legs in those ante
chambers, where to sit down at the age of eighty would seem
almost a revolt.
One prefers, in this career, the young men, giddy and fop
pish, who can boldly display flattery towards their masters,
arrogance towards their inferiors, and who, despise the part of
mankind which is above as well as that which is below them.
They proceed thus, trusting only to their own merit until some
loss of favour awaken them from the fascination of folly and of
wit together ; for a mixture of the two is necessary to succeed
in the intrigues of courts. Now in France, from rank to rank,
there have always been courts, that is houses, in which was
distributed a certain quantity of favour for the use of those who
aimed at money and place. The flatterers of power, from the
clerks to the chamberlains, have adopted that flexibility of lan
guage, that facility of saying every thing, as of concealing
every thing, that cutting tone in the style of decision, that
condescension for the fashion of the day as for a great authori
ty, which has given rise to the levity of which the French are
accused ; and yet this levity is found only in the swarm of men
who buzz around power. This levity they must have to change
their party readily ; they must have it not to enter thoroughly
into any study, for otherwise it would cost them too much to
say the contrary of what they would have seriously learned ;
general ignorance facilitates confident affirmation. In short,
they must have this levity to lavish, from democracy down to
legitimacy, from the republic down to military despotism, all
the phrases most opposite in point of meaning, but which still
bear a resemblance to each other, like persons of the same
family, equally superficial, disdainful, and calculated never to
present but one side of a question in opposition to that which

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. $17
circumstances have rendered common. The .artifices of in-
trigue at this time intermeddling with literature as with every
thing else, there is no possibility for a poor Frenchman who*
reads to learn any thing else than that which it is expedient to
say, not that which really is. . In the eighteenth century, on
the contrary, men in power, had no apprehension of the influ
ence of writings on public opinion, and they left literature al
most as undisturbed as the physical sciences still are at this day.
The great writers have all combated, with more or less reserve,
the different institutions founded on prejudices. But what was
the result of this conflict ? That the. institutiqns were van
quished. One might apply to the reign of Louis XV., and to
the kind of happiness found under, it, the saying of the; man
who was falling from the third, story of a house; «:{ This is very
pleasant, if k. would but last." ..¦„».
Representative governments, it will. still be objected to me,
have not existed in Germany, and yet learning has made im
mense progress there. Nothing has lgss resemblance than
Germany, and France. There is a methodical spirit ,in.]the
German governmentSj which much diminishes the irregular
ascendency of courts. No coteries, no mistresses, no favourites,
nor even ministers who can change. the order of things, are to
be found there. Literature proceeds without flattering any
one ; the rectitude of character, and the abstract nature , of
studies, are such, that even in the time of civil troubles, it would
be impossible to compel a German writer tp play those strange
tricks, which "have justly led, to the remark, that in France pappr
suffers every thing, so much is required of it.. You acknow
ledge then, I shall -be told, that the French character hasjn-
vincible defects which are hostile to the knowledge, as well as
to the virtues, without which liberty cannpt exist ?{ By no
means; 1 say that an arbitrary, fluctuating, capricious, and un
stable government, full of prejudice and superstition in some
respects, and pf frivolity and immorality in others, that this
government, such as it. existed., heretofore in France, , had left
knowledge, intellect* and energy only to its adversaries. And,
if it be impossible that such an order of things should be in

318 CONSIDERATIONS ON
accordance with the progress of knowledge, it is still more cer
tain that it is irreconcileable with purity Of morals, and dignity
of character. We already perceive that, notwithstanding the
misfortunes of France, marriage is far more respected since the
Revolution, than it was under the old system. Now, marriage
is the support of morals and of#Iiberty. How should women
have confined themselves to domestic life under an arbitrary
government, and not have employed all their seductive means
to influence power? They were certainly not animated by
an enthusiasm for general ideas, but by the desire Pf ob
taining places for their friends ; and nothing was more
natural in a country where men in favour could do every
thing, where they disposed of the revenues' of the state, where
they were stopped by nothing but the will of the King, neces
sarily modified by the intrigues of those by whom he was sur
rounded. How should any scruple have been felt to employ
the credit of women who were in favour, to obtain from a
minister any exception whatever to a rule that did nOt exist?
Can it be believed that Madame de Montespan, under Louis
XIV., or Madame Dubarry, under Louis XV., ever received a
refusal from ministers ? And without approaching so near the
throne, where was the circle upon which favour did not act as
at.. court, and where every one did not employ all possible
means to attain preferment?. In a nation, on the contrary, re
gulated by law, what woman would have the useless effrontery
to solicit what was unfair, or rely more on her entreaties than
on the real claims of those whPm she recommended? Corrup
tion of morals is not the only result of those continual solicita
tions, of that activity of intrigue, of which French women; par
ticularly those of the first class, have but too frequently set the
example ; the passions of which they are susceptible, and
which the delicacy of their organs renders more lively, disfigure
in them all that is amiable in their sex.
It is in free countries only that the true character Ofa woman
and the true character of a man can be known and admired.
Domestic life inspires all the virtues in women ; and the j5oliti-
cal career, far from habituating men to despise morality, as an
old tale of the nursery, stimulates those who hold public func-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 319
tions to the sacrifice of their personal interests, to the dignity of
honour, and to all that greatness of soul which the habitual pre
sence of public opinion never fails to call forth. .Finally, in a
country where women are at the bottom of every intrigue, be
cause favour governs every thing, the morals of the first class
have nothing in common with those of the nation, and no sym
pathy can exist between the persons who fill the drawing-
rooms and the,bulk of the people. A woman of the lowest dr-
der.in England feels that she has some kind of analogy with the
Queen, who has also taken care of her husband, and brought
up her, children in the way that religion and morality enjoin to
every wife and mother. But the morals to which arbitrary go^
vernment leads transform women into a sort of third factitious
sex, the sad, production of 3 depraved social order. Women,
however, may be excusable for taking political matters as they
are, and for finding pleasure in those lively interests from which
they seem separated by their natural destiny. But what are
men who are brotight up under arbitrary government ? We
have seen some of them amidst the Jacobins, under Bonaparte,
and in foreign camps — every where except in the incorruptible
band of the friends of liberty. They take their stand on the
excesses of the Revplution to proclaim despotism ; and twenty-
five years are opposed to the history of the world, which dis
plays nothing but the honors committed by superstition and
tyranny. To believe in the good faith of these partisans of ar
bitrary power, we must suppose that they have never read whaf
preceded the era of the French Revolution ; and we know some
who may well found their justification on their ignorance.
Our Revolution, as we have, already stated, almost followed
the different phrases of that pf England, with the same regulari
ty which the crisis of a similar malady presents, But the ques
tion which now agitates the civilized world consists in the ap
plication of all the fundamental truths upon which social order
r$s,ts. The activity of power has led men to commit all the
crimes which sully history ; fanaticism has seconded tyranny;
hypocrisy, violence, fraud, and the sword have enchained, de
ceived, and devastated the human race. Two periods alone

320 CONSIDERATIONS ON
have illumined the globe : the history of some ages of Greece and
Rome. Slavery, by limiting the number of citizens, allowed
the republican government to be established even in extensive
countries, and thence resulted the greatest virtues. Christiani
ty, by liberating slaves, and by civilizing the rest of Europe,
has since conferred on individual existence a good which is the
source of all others. But despotism, that disorder within or
der, has all along maintained itself in several countries; and all
the pages of our history have been stained, either by religious
massacres, or judiciary murders. On a sudden Providence
permitted England to solve the problem of constitutional mo
narchies ; and America, a century later, that of federal repub
lics. Since these periods, not one drop of blood has been shed
unjustly by tribunals in either of these countries. For sixty
years past religious quarrels have ceased in England, and they
never existed in America. The venom of power, which has
corrupted so many men during so many ages, has undergone
at last, by representative governments, a salutary inculcation,
which has destroyed all its malignity. Since the battle of Cul
loden, in 1746, which may be considered the close of the civil
troubles that commenced a hundred years before, not one abuse
of power can be cited in England. There exists not one worthy
citizen who has not said, " Our happy constitution ;" because
there exists no one who has not felt its protection. This chi
mera, for such whatever is sublime has always been called,
stands there realized before our eyes. What feeling, what pre
judice, what hardness of head or heart can prompt us, in re
calling what we have read in our history, not to prefer the sixty
years of which England has given us an example ? Our kings,
like those of England, have been alternately good and bad ;
but their reign presents at no time sixty years of internal peace
and liberty together. : Nothing equal to it has even been thought
possible at any other era. Power is the protector of order;
but it is also its enemy by the passions which it excites : regu
late its exercise by public liberty, and you will have banished
that contempt for mankind which exempts all vices from re
straint, and justifies the art of profiting by them.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 32,1
CHAPTER XI.
Ofthe Mixture of Religion with Politics.
It is very often said that France has become irreligious since
the Revolution. No doubt at the period of all crimes, the men
who committed them must have thrown off the most sacred of re
straints. But the general disposition of men at present is not
connected with melancholy causes, which happily are very re
mote from us. Religion, in France, as it was preached by
priests, has always mixed itself with politics ; and from the time
when the Popes absolved subjects from their oath of fidelity to
their kings, until the last catechism sanctioned by the great ma
jority of the French clergy, a catechism in which, as we have
seen, those who did not love and serve the Emperor Napoleon
were threatened with eternal damnation, there is not a period
in which the ministers of religion have not employed it to es
tablish political dogmas, all differing according to circumstan
ces. In the midst of these changes, the only invariable thing
has been intolerance towards whatever was not conformable to
the prevailing doctrine. Never has religion been presented
merely as the most inward worship of the heart, without any
connexion with the interests of this world.
We are subject to the reproach of irreligion when we do not
accord in opinion with the ecclesiastical authorities in the af
fairs of government ; but a man may be irritated against those
who seek to impose upon him their manner of thinking in poli
tics, and, nevertheless, be a very good Christian. It does not
follow that because France desires liberty and equality in the
eye of the law, that the country is not Christian ;— quite the
contrary. Christianity accords eminently with this opinion.
Thus, when man shall cease to join what God has separated,
religion and politics, the clergy will have less power, and less
influence, but the nation will be sincerely religious. All the
vol. n. 41

322 considerations on
art ofthe privileged persons of both classes consists in establish
ing, that he who wishes for a constitution is disaffected ; and he
who dreads the influence of the priests in the affairs of this
world, an unbeliever. These tactics are well known, for, like
all the rest, they have only been renewed.
Sermons in France, as in England, in times of party, have
often treated of political questions, and, I believe, they have
but little edified persons of a contrary opinion, by whom they
were heard. We do not much attend to a sermon which we
hear in the morning, from a preacher with whom we have been
disputing the day before ; and religion suffers from the hatred
with which political questions imbue ecclesiastics who interfere
in those discussions.
It would be unjust to pretend that France is irreligious be
cause the nation does not apply, according to the wish of some
members of the clergy, the famous text, that all power comes
from God ; a text, the honest interpretation of which is easy,
but which has been wonderfully useful in treaties made by the
clergy with all governments supporting themselves on the di
vine right of force. I will cite on this occasion some passages
of the Pastoral Instruction of the Bishop of Troyes, who, when
he was almoner to Bonaparte, delivered a discourse at the
christening of the King of Rome, at least as edifying as that
with which we are going to be engaged. It is unnecessary to
add that this Instruction is of 1816. The date ofa publication
in France can always be recognised by the opinion which it
contains. The Bishop of Troyes says, " France wishes for her King,
but her legitimate King, because legitimacy is the first treasure
of a nation, and a benefit so much the more invaluable, as it
compensates for all others, and can by no other be supplied."
Let us pause one moment to pity the man, who thinks thus,
for having served Napoleon so long and so well. What an
effort! what constraint ! But, after all, the Bishop of Troyes
does no more in this respect than many others who still hold
places ; and we must render him at least the justice that he does

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 323
not call for the proscription of his fellow flatterers of Napoleon:
this is no small matter.
I will pass over the flattering language ofthe pastoral letter;
a language whieh a man ought to permit himself the less to
use towards power, the more he respects power. Let us pro
ceed to things of less benignity : " France wishes for her King ;
but, in wishing for him, she does not pretend that she can
choose another; and, happily, she has not this fatal right.
Far from us be the thought that kings hold their authority from
the people, and that the option which the people may have had
of choosing them includes the right of recalling them 
No, it is not true that the people is sovereign, nor that kings
are its trustees; .,  this is the cry of sedition, the
dream of independence ; it is the foul chimera of turbulent de
mocracy ; it is the most cruel falsehood that our vile tyrants
ever invented to deceive the multitude. , We do not mean to
refute seriously this disastrous sovereignty;  but it
is our duty, in the name of religion, to protest against this
anarchical and anti-social doctrine, vomited amongstus with the
revolutionary lava ; and to guard the faithful committed to our
care, against this double heresy, political and religious, equally
reprobated by the greatest doctors and the greatest legislators,
not less contrary to natural than to divine right, nor less de
structive of the authority of kings than of the authority of God."
The Bishop of Troyes, in fact, does not seriously treat that
question, which had, however, appeared worthy of the atten
tion of some thinkers ; but it is easier to convert a principle
into heresy than to investigate it by discussion. There are,
however, some Christians in England, in America, and in Hol
land ; and, since social order has been founded, well-informed
persons have been known to believe, that all power emanated
from the people, without whom no power could exist. It is in
this manner that by employing religion to direct politics, the
French are liable to continual reproaches of impiety : which
simply means, that there are in France a great many friends of
liberty, who are of opinion that a compact should exist be-

324 CONSIDERATIONS ON
tween nations and sovereigns. It seems to me that we can be
lieve in God, and yet think in this manner.
By a singular contradiction this Bishop, so orthodox in
politics, cites the famous passage which served him, no doubt,
as a justification in his own eyes, when he was the almoner of
the Usurper : " All power comes from God ; and he who resists
pozoer, resists God himself." " Behold, beloved brethren, the
public right of religion, without which no one has the right to
command, nor the obligation to obey. Behold, that first so
vereignty from which all others are derived, and without
which all others would have neither basis nor sanction ; it is
the only constitution adapted to all places, as well as to all
times ; the only one which can enable us to do without others,
and without which no other can maintain itself. This is the
only one which can never be subject to revision ; the only one
which cannot be shaken by any faction, and against which no
rebellion can prevail; against which, in short, nations and
kings, masters and subjects, can do nothing : all power
comes from God ; and he who resists power, resists God him
self." Is it possible in a few words to collect a greater num
ber of fatal errors and servile reasonings. Thus Nero and
Robespierre, Louis XI. and Charles IX., the most sanguinary
of men, ought to be obeyed, if he who resists power resists
God himself ! Nations,- or their representatives, are the only
power which should have been excepted, in this implicit
respect for authority. When two parties in the state are con-
fending together, how shall we seize the moment when one of
them becomes sacred, that is to say, the stronger? Those
French then were wrong who did not quit the King during
twenty-five years of exile ! For certainly during that time it
was Bonaparte to whom we could not refuse the right which
the Bishop of Troyes proclaims, that of power. Into what ab
surdities writers fall, who wish to reduce into theories, into
dogmas, into maxims, the interests of the moment ! The sword,
in truth, is less degrading than speech, when it is thus used.
It has been a hundred times repeated that the phrase in the
Gospel " All power comes from God,*' and the other, " Ren-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 325
der to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," had solely for their
object to remove all political discussion. Jesus Christ desired
that the religion he preached should be considered by the Ro
mans as entirely unconnected with public affairs ; " My reign
is not of this world," said he. All that is required of the
ministers of religion, is to fulfil in this respect, as in all others,
the intentions of Christ.
" Appoint, O Lord !" says the Prophet, " a legislator over
them, that the nations may know that they are men." It ^ould
not be amiss that kings should also learn that they are men, and
certainly they must be ignorant of it, unless they contract en
gagements towards the nation whom they govern. When the
Prophet prays to God to establish a king, it is, as all religious
men pray to God, to preside over every event of this life ; but
how is a dynasty specially established by Providence ? Is it
prescription that is the sign of a Divine mission ? The popes
have excommunicated and deposed princes from the remotest
times. They excluded Henry IV. on account of his religion ;
and powerful motives recently impelled a pope to concur in the
coronation of Bonaparte. It will then belong to the clergy to
declare, when necessary, that such a dynasty, and not such
another, is chosen by the will of God. But let us follow the
pastoral instruction, " Appoint a legislator," that is to say, " a
king who is the legislator above all, and without whom there
can be no law; a supreme legislator who will speak and make
laws in your name; one legislator, and not several ; for the
more there are, the worse will the laws be made ; a legislator
with unrivalled authority, that he may do good without hin
drance; a legislator, who, obedient himself to his own laws,
cannot bind any one to submit to his passions and caprices ; fi
nally, a legislator, who, making only just laws, would thus lead
his people to real liberty." A man who will make laws for
himself alone, will have neither passions nor caprices ; a man sur
rounded by all the snares of royalty, will be the only legislator
of a people, and will make none but just laws ! There is, forsooth,
no example of the contrary ; we have never seen kings abuse
their power; no priests such as the Cardinals of Lorraine,

326 CONSIDERATIONS ON
Richelieu, Mazarine, Dubois, who excited them to it! and how
is that doctrine compatible with the constitutional charter which
the King himself has sworn ? This King whom France desires ;
for the Bishop of Troyes allows himself to say this, although, ac
cording to him, France has no right to form a wish on the sub
ject ; this King, who is established by the Lord, has promised
on oath that there should be various legislators, and not one on
ly, although the Bishop of Troyes pretends- that the more there
are, the more imperfect will be the laws. Thus the information
acquired by administration ; thus the wishes collected in the
provinces by those who live there ; thus the sympathy arising
from the Same wants and the same sufferings, all this is not
equivalent to the information of a single king who represents
himself, to make use of a somewhat singular expression of the
Bishop of Troyes. One would think, that one had already at
tained what, in this kind of composition, cannot be surpassed, if
the following passage did not claim a preference.
" Thus, beloved brethren, have we seen this senate of kings
under the name of Congress, consecrate the legitimacy of all
dynasties as a principle, as the sgis of their throne and the
surest pledge of the happiness of nations and of the tranquillity
of states. We are kings, said they, because we are kings : for
so require the order and stability of the social world : so re
quires our own security ; and they have said it without much
concerning themselves, whether they were not thus in opposi
tion to the ideas called liberal, and still less whether the parti
tion which they made of the countries which they found to suit
them, were not the most solemn denial given to the sovereignty
ofthe people." Would not one think that we had quoted the
most ironical satire against the Congress of Vienna, did we not
know that such could not have been the intention of the author?
But when a writer goes to such a degree of absurdity, he is not
aware of the ridicule incurred, for methodical folly is very se
rious. We are kings, because tue are kings, the sovereigns of
Europe are made to say ; "/ am, that I am," are the words of
Jehovah in the Bible; and the ecclesiastical writer takes on
himself to attribute to monarchs what can be suitable only to

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 327
the Deity. The kings, said he, did not much concern themselves
whether the partitioning ofthe countries which they found to suit
them was in harmony with the ideas called liberal. So much the
worse, in truth, if they have managed this partitioning like a
banker's account, paying balances in a certain number of souls,
or of fractions of souls, to make up a round sum of subjects! So
much the worse, if they have consulted nothing but their con
venience, without thinking of the interests and wishes ofthe peo
ple ! But the kings, be assured, reject the unworthy eulogy that
is thus addressed to them ; they, doubtless, reject also the blame
which the Bishop of Troyes ventures to cast on them, although
that blame contains an odious flattery under the form of a re
proach. " It is true that several of them have been seen to favour, at
the hazard of being in contradiction with themselves, those
popular forms and other new theories which their ancestors did
not know, and to which, until our days, their own countries had
been strangers, without being the worse for their ignorance ;
but, we do not fear to say it, it is the malady of Europe, and the
most alarming symptom of its decline ; it is in that way that
Providence seems to attack it to accelerate its dissolution. Let
us add to this mania of recasting governments, and supporting
them by books, that tendency of innovating minds to make a
blending of all modes of worship as they wish to make of all
parties, and to believe that the authority of princes acquires for
itself all the strength and authority of which they strip religion ;
and we shall have the two greatest political dissolvents which
can undermine empires, and with which Europe, sooner or la
ter, must fall into shreds and rottenness." Such then is the
object of all these homilies in favour of absolute power; it i.s
religious toleration that must make Europe fall, sooner or 'later,
into shreds and rottenness. Public opinion is favourable to
this toleration ; it is then necessary to prescribe whatever can
serve as an organ to public opinion : then the clergy of the only
admitted religion will be rich and powerful ; for, on the one
hand, they will call themselves the interpreters of that divine
right by which kings reign, and, on the other, the'nations being

328 CONSIDERATIONS ON
allowed to profess nothing but the prevailing religion, the eccle
siastics solely must be charged, as they demand, with public
education, and with the direction of conscience, which supports
itself on the Inquisition, as arbitrary power on the police.
A fraternity of all Christian communities, such as the Holy
Alliance proposed by the Emperor Alexander has made hu
manity expect, is already condemned by the censure passed on
the blending of the forms of worship. What social order is pro
posed to us by these partisans of despotism and of intolerance,
these enemies of knowledge, these adversaries of humanity,
when it bears the name of people and nation ! whither could one
fly, were they to have command? A few words more on this
pastoral instruction, of which the title is so mild and the words
so bitter.
"Alas !" says the Archbishop of Troyes) addressing himself
to the King, " seditious men, the better to enslave us, already
begin to speak to us of our rights, that they may make us forget
yours. Sire, we have doubtless rights, and they are as ancient
as the monarchy : the right of belonging to you as the head of
the great family, and of calling ourselves your subjects, be
cause that word signifies your children." One cannot avoid
thinking that the writer, a man of intelligence, himself smiled
when he proposed, as the only right of the French people, that
of calling themselves the subjects of a monarch who should
dispose, according to his good pleasure, of their property and
their lives. The slaves of Algiers can boast of rights of the
same kind.
Lastly, see on what rests all the erection of sophistry pre
scribed as an article of faith, because reasoning could not sup
port it. What a use of the name of God ! and how can one
expect that a nation, to whom one says this is religion,
should not become unbelievers, for the misfortune of itself and
the world !
" Beloved brethren, we shall not cease to repeat to you what
Moses said to his people : Ask your forefathers and the God of
your fathers, and go back to the source. Consider that the less
we deviate from beaten paths the greater is our security. Con-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 329
sider, in short, that to despise the authority of ages is to
despise the authority of God, since it is God himself who makes
antiquity ; and that to desire to renounce it, is, in any event,
the greatest of crimes, even were it not the greatest of misfor
tunes." It is God that makes antiquity. Doubtless ; but God
is likewise the author of the present, on which the future is
about to depend. How silly would this assertion be, did it not
contain a dexterous artifice ! It is as follows : all upright peo
ple are affected when reminded of their ancestors ; the idea of
their fathers seems always to join itself to the idea ofthe past.
But does this noble and pure feeling lead to the re-establish
ment of the torture, of the wheel, of the Inquisition, because in
remote ages abominations of that kind were the work of bar
barous manners ? Can we support what is absurd ar.d crimi
nal, because absurdity and criminality once existed ? Were
not our fathers culpable towards their fathers when they adopt
ed Christianity and abolished slavery ? Reflect that the less we
deviate from the beaten paths the greater is our security, says the
Bishop of Troyes ; but to enable this path to have become
beaten, it must have been necessary to pass from antiquity to
later times ; and we now wish to profit by the information of
our days, that posterity may also have an antiquity proceeding
from us, but which she may change, in her turn, if Providence
continue to protect, as it has done, the progress of the human
mind in all directions.
I should not have dwelt so long on the composition of the
Bishop of Troyes did it not contain the quintessence of all that
daily published in France. Will good sense escape from it
unimpaired ? and what is still worse, will the sentiment of re
ligion, without which men have no refuge in themselves, be able
to resist this mixture of policy and religion, which bears an
evident character of hypocrisy and egotism ?

vol. u. 42

330 ./' CONSIDERATIONS ON
CHAPTER XII.
Of the Love of Liberty.
.The necessity of free governments, that is to say, of limited
monarchies in great states, and independent republics in those
which are small, is so evident, that we are tempted to believe
no one can refuse sincerely to admit so obvious a truth ; and
yet, when we meet with men who combat it in earnest, we
would wish, for our own satisfaction, to frame some explana
tion of their motives. Liberty has three classes of opponents
in France ; — the nobles, who consider honour as consisting in
passive obedience, the nobles, who possess more reflection
with less candour, and believe that the interests of their own
aristocracy are identified with the interests of absolute pow
er ; — the men whom the French Revolution has disgusted with
the ideas which it profaned ; — finally, the Bonapartists, the
Jacobins, all, in short, who think that conscience has no con
cern with politics. The nobles who connect honour with pas
sive Obedience altogether confound the spirit of ancient chivalry
with that of the courtiers of modern days. The ancient
knights, doubtless, were ready to die for their king, and so
would every warrior for his leader ; but, as we have' already
said, they were by no means the partisans of absolute power :
they sought to encompass that power with barriers, and placed
their glory in defending a liberty, which, though aristocratical,
was still liberty. As to the nobles who are convinced that the
privileges of the aristocracy must now rest upon the despotism
which they once sought to imitate, we may say to them, as in
the romance of Waverley : " What concerns you is not so much
whether James Stuart shall be King, as whether Fergus Mac
Ivor shall be Earl." The institution ofa peerage accessible to
merit, is to nobility what the English constitution is to monarchy.
It is the only mode of preserving either the one or the other : for
we live in an age in which the world does not readily imagine that

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 331
the minority; and a very small minority, can have a right which
is not for the advantage of the majority. A few years ago, the
Sultan of Persia had an account given to him of the English
constitution, by the ambassador of England at his court. After
having listened to it, and, as we shall see, understood it tole
rably well : " I can conceive," said he, " that the order of
things which you describe to me is better framed than the go
vernment of Persia for, the duration and happiness of your
empire ; but it seems to me much less conducive to the enjoy
ment of the monarch." This was an accurate statement of the
question ; only that it is better even for the monarch to be
guided in the administration of affairs by public opinion, than
incessantly to run the risk of being in opposition to it. Justice
is the aegis of all and of every one : but in its quality of jus
tice, it is the great number which has the preferable claim to
protection. We have next to speak of those whom the misfortunes and
the crimes of the French Revolution have terrified, and who
fly from one extreme to the other, as if the arbitrary power of
an individual were the only sure preservative against that of
mobs. It was thus that they exalted the tyranny of Bonaparte,
and it is thus that they would render Louis XVIII. a despot,
if his superior wisdom did not protect him from it. Tyranny is
an upstart and despotism a grandee ; but both are equally
offensive to human reason. After having witnessed the ser
vility with which Bonaparte was obeyed, it is difficult to con
ceive that the republican spirit is that which is to be dreaded
in France. The diffusion of knowledge and the nature of things
will bring liberty to France ; but the nation assuredly will not \
spontaneously show itself either factious or turbulent. Since
for so many ages every generous soul has loved liberty ; since
the noblest actions have been inspired by her ; since antiquity
and the historyAbf modern times exhibit to us so many prodigies
effected by public spirit ; since we have seen so lately what
nations can do ; since every reflecting writer has been loud in
proclaiming the praises of freedom; since not one political
work of lasting reputation can be cited which is not animated

332 CONSIDERATIONS ON
by this sentiment ; since the fine arts, poetry, the masterpieces
of the theatre, which are intended to excite emotion in the hu
man heart, all exalt public liberty ; what are we to say of those
little men, great only in folly, who, with an accent insipid and
affected as their whole being, declare to you, that it is very
bad taste to trouble yourselves with politics ; that after the
horrors which we have witnessed nobody cares for liberty ;
that popular elections are an institution altogether vulgar; that
the people always make a bad choice ; and that genteel per
sons are not suited to go, as in England, and mingle with the
populace. It is bad taste to trouble ourselves with politics.
Gpod heavens ! Of what then are those young people
to think, who were educated under the government of Bo
naparte, merely to go and fight, without any instruction,
without any interest in literature or the fine arts. Since
they can have neither a new idea, nor a sound judg
ment, on such subjects, they would, at least, be men, if they
were to occupy themselves with their country, if they were to
deem themselves citizens, if their life were to be in any way
useful. But what would they substitute for the politics which
.they affect to proscribe ? Some hours passed in the antecham
ber of ministers, to obtain places which they are not qualified
to fill ; some trivial parlour conversations, beneath the under
standing of even the silliest of the women to whom they ad
dress them. When they were encountering death they might
escape without blame, because there is always greatness in
courage : but in a country which, thanks to Heaven ! will be
at peace, to have no attainments beyond the level of a cham
berlain, and to be unable to impart other knowledge or dig
nity to their native land ; — this is bad taste indeed. The time
is gone' by when young Frenchmen could set the fashion in
every thing. They have still, it is true, the frivolity of former
days : but. they have no longer the graces on account of which
that frivolity plight be pardoned.
After the horrors which we have witnessed, it is said, nobody
now wishes lo hear the name of liberty. If characters of sensibili
ty give themselves up to an involuntary and distempered hatred,

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 333
(for so must it be named, since it depends on certain recollec
tions, certain associations of terror, which it is impossibleto
vanquish,) we would say to them with a poet of the present day,
that liberty must not be compelled to stab herself like Lucretia,
because she has been violated. We would bid them remember
that the massacre of St. Bartholomew has not caused the pro
scription of the Catholic faith. We would tell them, in short,
that the fate of truth is not dependent on the men who put this
or that motto on their banners, and that good sense has been
given to every individual to judge of things as they are in them
selves, and not according to accidental circumstances. The
guilty of all times have tried to avail themselves of a generous
pretext in order to excuse bad actions : there are few crimes
in the world, which their authors have not ascribed to honour,
to religion, or to liberty. It does not follow, I think, that it is
on that account necessary to proscribe whatever there is of
beautiful upon earth. In politics especially, as there is room
for fanaticism as well as for bad faith, for devotedness as well as
for personal interest, we are subject to fatal errors when we
have not a certain force of understanding and of soul. If on
the day after the death of Charles I., an Englishman, cursing
with reason that enormity, had implored Heaven that there
might never again be freedom in England, we might certainly
have felt an interest in that emotion of a good heart, which in
its agitation confounded all the pretexts of a great crime with
the crime itself; and would have proscribed, had it been able,
even the sun, which had risen on that day as well as on others.
But if so unthinking a prayer had been heard, England would
not at this day serve as an example to the world ; the universal
dominion of Bonaparte would be weighing Europe to the
ground ; for, without the aid of England, Europe would not
have been in a situation to work out her own deliverance. Such
arguments and many others might be addressed .to persons,
whose very prejudices merit respect, because they spring from
the affections of the heart. But what are we to say of those
who treat the friends of liberty as Jacobins, while they them
selves have been ready instruments in the hands ofthe Imperial

334 CONSIDERATIONS ON
power. We were forced, they say, to be so. Ah ! I know
some who could likewise speak of constraint, and who yet es
caped it. But since you have allowed yourselves to be com
pelled, at least allow us to endeavour to give you a free consti
tution, in which the empire of the law will prevent any thing
wrong from being required of you : for, as appears to me, you
are in danger of giving way too readily to circumstances. They,
whom nature has endued with a disposition to resist, have less
reason to dread despotism : but you, who have crouched under
it so well, should earnestly wish that at no time, under no
prince, in no shape, may it ever again overtake you.
The epicureans of our days would wish that knowledge might
improve our physical existence without exciting intellectual de
velopement : they would have the great body of the communi
ty labour to render social life more agreeable and comfortable,
without desiring to share in the advantages which it has gained
for all. In former days the general style of life had little deli
cacy or refinement, and the relations of society were likewise
much more simple and stable. But now that commerce has
multiplied every thing, if you do not give motives of emulation
to talent, the love of money will fill the vacancy. You will not
raise up the castles of feudal chieftains from their ruins ; you
will not recall to life the princesses, who with their own hands
spun the vests of the warriors ; you will not even restore the
reign of Louis XIV. The present times admit not of that sort
of gravity and respect, which then gave so much ascendency
to that court. But you will have corruption, and corruption
without refinement of mind ; the lowest degradation to which
the human species can fall. It is not then between knowledge
and the ancient system of feudal manners that we are to choose,
but between the desire of distinction and the avarice of wealth.
Examine the adversaries of freedom in every country, you
will find among them a few deserters from the camp of men of
talent, but in general you will see that the enemies of freedom
are the enemies of knowledge and intelligence. They are
proud of their deficiency in this respect ; and it must be allow
ed that such a negative triumph is easily gained.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33S
The secret has been found of exhibiting the friends of liberty
as the enemies of religion : there are two pretexts for the
singular injustice which would exclude from this earth the no
blest of sentiments, alliance with Heaven. The first is the Re
volution ; as it was effected in the name of philosophy, an infe
rence has thence been drawn, that to love liberty it is necessa
ry to be an atheist. Assuredly, it is because the French did
not unite religion to liberty, that their revolution deviated so
soon from its primitive direction. There might be certain dog
mas of the Catholic church which did not agree well with the
principles of freedom ; passive obedience to the Pope was as
difficult to be defended as passive obedience to the King. But
Christianity has in truth brought liberty upon earth ; justice to
wards the oppressed, respect for the unfortunate ; equality be
fore God, of which equality in the eye of the law is only an im
perfect image. It is by confusion of thought, voluntary ia
some, blind in others, that endeavours have been made to re
present the privileges of the nobility and the absolute power
of the throne as doctrines of religion. The forms of social or
ganization can have no concern with religion, except by their
influence on the maintenance of justice towards all, and of the
morals of each individual. The rest belongs to the science of
this world.
It is time that five-and-twenty years, of which fifteen belong
to military despotism, should no longer place themselves as a
phantom betwixt history and us, and should no longer deprive
us of all the lessons and of all the examples which it exhibits.
Is Aristides to be forgotten, and Phocion, and Epaminondas, in
Greece ; Regulus, Cato, and Brutus, at Rome ; Tell in Swit
zerland ; Egmont and Nassau in Holland ; Sidney and Russel
in England ; because a country that had long been governed
by arbitrary power was delivered, during a revolution, to men
whom arbitrary power had corrupted. What is there so ex
traordinary in such an event, as to change the course of the
stars that is, to give a retrograde motion to truth, which was
before advancing with history to enlighten the human race ?
By what public sentiment shall we be moved henceforth, if

33G CONSIDERATIONS ON
we are to reject tlie love of liberty ? Old prejudices have now
no influence upon men except from calculation ; they are de
fended only by those who have a personal interest in defend
ing them. What man in France desires absolute power from
pure love or for its own sake. Inform yourself of the personal
situation of its partisans, and you will soon know the motives
Of their doctrine. On what then would the fraternal tie of hu
man associations be founded, if no enthusiasm were to be de
veloped in the heart? Who could be elated with being a
Frenchman, after having seen liberty destroyed by tyranny,
tyranny broken to pieces by foreign force, unless the laurels
of war were at least rendered honourable by the conquest of
liberty ? We should have to contemplate a mere struggle be
tween the selfishness of those who were privileged by birth,
and the selfishness of those who are privileged by events. But
where would then be France ? Who could boast of having
served her, since nothing would remain in the heart, either of
past times or of the new reform ?
Liberty ! Let us repeat her name with so much the more
energy, that the men who should pronounce it, at least as an
apology, keep it at a distance through flattery : let us repeat
it without fear of wounding any power that deserves respect ;
for all that we love, all that we honour, is included in it. No
thing but liberty can arouse the soul to the interests of social
order. Assemblages of men would be nothing but associations
for commerce or agriculture, if the life of patriotism did not
excite individuals to sacrifice themselves for their fellows.
Chivalry was a warlike brotherhood, which satisfied that thirst
for self-devotion which is felt by every generous heart. The
nobles were companions in arms, bound together by duty and
honour; ,but since the progress of the human mind has created
nations, in other words, since all men participate in some de
gree in the same advantages, what would become of the human
species were it not for the sentiment of liberty ? Why should
the patriotism of a Frenchman begin at thi6 frontier, and cease
at that, if there were not within this compass hopes, enjoy
ments, an emulation, a security, which make him love his native

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 337
land as much through the genuine feelings of the soul as,
through habit ? Why should the name of France 'awaken so
invincible an emotion, if there were no other ties among the
inhabitants of this fine country, than the privileges of some and
the subjection of the rest ?
Wherever you meet with respect for human nature, affection
for fellow creatures, and that energy of independence which can
resist every thing upon earth, and prostrate itself only before
God ; there you behold man the image of his Creator, there
you feel at the bottom of the soul an emotion which so pene
trates its very substance, that it cannot deceive you with respect
to truth. And you, noble Frenchmen, for whom honour was
freedom, frou who by a long series of exploits and greatness
ought to consider yourselves as a chosen portion of the human
race, permit the nation to raise itself to a level with you : she
too has rights of conquest; every Frenchman niay now call
himself a gentleman, if every gentleman is not willing to be
called a citizen.
It is indeed a remarkable circumstance, that throughout the
world, wherever a certain depth of thought exists, there is not
to be found an enemy of freedom. As the celebrated Hum
boldt has traced upon the mountains ofthe New World the dif
ferent degrees of height which permit the developement of this
or that plant, so might we predict what extent, what elevation
of spirit is requisite to enable a man to conceive the great in
terests of his species in their full connexion, and in all their
truth. The evidence of these opinions is such, that they who
have once admitted them can never renounce them, and that
from one end of the world to the other, the friends of freedom
maintain communication by knowledge, as religious men by
sentiments : or rather knowledge and sentiment unite in the
love of freedom as in that ofthe Supreme Being. Is the ques
tion the abolition of the slave trade, or the liberty of the press,
or religious toleration ? Jefferson thinks as La Fayette ; La
Fayette, as Wilberforce ; and even they who are now no more
are reckoned in the holy leagu.e. Is it then from the calculations
of interest, is it from bad motives, that men so superior, in situa-
VOL. II. ' 43

338 CONSIDERATIONS, &C.
tions and countries so different, should be in such harmony iu
their political opinions ? Without doubt knowledge is requisite
to enable us to soar above prejudices : but it is in the soul also
that the principles of liberty are founded ; they make the heart
palpitate like love and friendship, they come from nature,
they ennoble the character. One connected series of virtues
and ideas seems to form that golden chain described by Homer,
which in binding man to heaven, delivers him from all the fet
ters of tyranny.

EXPLANATORY NOTES,
By
THE TRANSLATOR.

Guerre de la Jacquerie, (vol. i. p. 10.) This was the name given to an insurree-
tion of the French peasants, which took place in 135S, amidst the troubles which
followed the battle of Poictiers and the captivity of King John. This insurrection
was very sanguinary ; the peasants (called in a style of familiarity or contempt les
Jacques) were extremely irritated against their oppressors the noblesse, and are said
to have massacred all who came in their way, without distinction of age or sex.
Their triumphs, however, were short-lived ; the noblesse took up arms, first for de
fence, and afterwards for revenge, and found little difficulty in subduing these un
disciplined bands.
The persecution of the Knights Templars took place in the beginning of the four
teenth century; the assassinations ofthe Duke of Orleans, and Duke of Burgundy,
a century later.
The respective dates of tlie three races ofthe Kings of France referred to by Ma
dame de Stael in this and other chapters were as follows :
I. Merovingian Race. a- d.
Began with Clovis - 481
Ended with Childeric - - 751
Lasted - ... 270 years.
II. Carlovingian Race. A- D-
Began with Pepin - - 751
Ended with Louis V. - - 986
Lasted  235 vears-
III. Capetian Race. *¦• °"
Began with Hugh Capet, - - 987
And still continues on the throne.
Convulsionnaires, (vol. i. p. 24.) This was the name given to those fanatics,
who in the year 1731, were in the habit of repairing to the grave of Pans, a Jan-
senist priest, in the churchyard of St. Medard at Paris. They went thither in quest
of supernatural convulsions, and continued their ridiculous practices till January,
1732 when the churchyard was shut up by order of government.
IA de Justice, (vol. i. p. 31.) in the old jurisprudence of France, was a solemn
meeting of the parliament, in presence of the. king, who was seated under a cano-

340 NOTES.
py, on a cushion, with a cushion at his back and one on each side, which together
formed the lit or bed of justice. Besides the presidents and counsellors of parlia
ment, there appeared, on these occasions of solemnity; the princes ofthe blood and
the peers of the realm. They formerly delivered their opinions on the subject in
deliberation viva voce ; but in latter times, the chancellor went from bench to bench
to collect the votes. The whole was a form, but one of those forms that were sub
servient to essential purposes, being generally adopted for the registering of import
ant edicts, to which the parliament would not give a voluntary assent.
The Conseilltrs de Parlement were members of the old parliaments of France,
not in the capacity of pleaders, as the name seems at first to imply, but in a judicial
capacity. Taille, (vol. i. p. 48.) a tax in France previous to the Revolution, imposed
partly on property, but partly also on persons ; it was peculiarly obnoxious to the
lower orders.
Tabouret, (vol. i. p. 116.) By this is to be understood the right of sitting, in
stead of standing, in presence of the king at what was called les grands couverls,
that is, when the king dined in public. These privileges belonged only to dutch-
esses, to the ladies of ambassadors, and to the dames d'atours ofthe queen.
Rutli, (vol. i. p. 150.) is the name of a meadow on the banks of the Lake of the
Four Cantons, " where the three founders of Swiss liberty, Furst, Staufacher, and
Melckthat, met and formed a compact between the cantons of Uri, Schweitz, and
Unterwalden. Prevotal Courts, (vol. i. p. 167.) The term prevot (from which is derived the
English word provost) was formerly applied to various establishments in France ;
judges resident in the smaller towns, and authorized to try oflFences occurring
among the middling and lower classes, (the non privilegies,) subject to an appeal to
Paris. After the return of the Bourbons, in July, 1815, courts, chiefly for the trial
of offences of a seditious nature, were established under the name of Coursprevo-
tales, and continued in force until the close of the session of the chambers, in the
spring of 1818.
" Acts of the Apostles," (vol. i. p. 174.) — " Actes des Apotres" was the name of a
counter-revolutionary journal, published by Peltier and others in the time of the
Constituent Assembly.
Oeil dt Bozuf, (vol. ii. p. 162.) — This expression, which in architecture means a
window of an oval form, was applied at the old French court to the antechamber
of the King's room at Versailles ; where the various pretenders to royal favour
were in the habit of meeting, and of casting on each other the jealous eyes alluded
to in the text.

Dates of the chief Historical Events connected with the preceding
f' ,. Work.
1774— May 10— Accession of Louis XVT.
1776 Appointment of M. Necker to the ministry of Finance.
1781 — May Resignation of M. Necker.
1783^-Jan. 20— Peace between France and England.

NOTES. 341
1785 Suspension of the power of the Stadtholder in Holland; two
years afterwards the Prussians invaded Holland and reinstated
the Stadtholder. :j
1787— Feb. 22— First assembly of the Notables at Versailles.
1788 — Sept. Second appointment of M. Necker to the ministry ; he was now
prime minister.
Nov. 6 — Second assembly of the Notables at Versailles.
Dec. 27 — Act of council by Louis XVI. for allowing the Tiers Etat as ma
ny representatives as the two other orders together.
1789— May 5— Meeting of the States General at Versailles.
June 17 — Assumption of the title of National Assembly by the majority of
the; States General.
June 20 — Oath taken by the Assembly at the Jeu de Paume.
June 23 — The Seance Royale.
June 24 — The majority of the clergy join the National Assembly.
June 25 — The minority of the noblesse join the National Assembly.
June 27 — Definitive union of the three orders in the National Assembly.
July 3 — March of the German regiments towards Paris.
July 10 — The Assembly address the King to send back the German regi
ments.
July 11 — M. Necker's dismissal and departure to the frontier.
,^«»tfuly 14 — Insurrection at Paris ; capture of the Bastile.
July 15 — The King comes to the Assembly, and announces that the troops
are ordered back. Beginning of the emigration.
July 16 — Address of the Assembly demanding the dismissal of ministers,
and the recall of M. Necker ; the King consents.
July 17 — The King visits Paris to calm the popular ferment.
Aug. 4 — Decree of the Assembly for the abolition of privileges and feudal
rights in, France.
Oct. 5&,6 — March of the populace from Paris to Versailles ; the King and
Royal Family obliged to remove to Paris, whither they are
followed by the National Assembly.
jfov- 2 — The church-lands in France declared National property.
Dec. 21 — First emission of assigndh.
jiygO  Feb. 13 — Suppression of religious orders and monastic vows in France.
j-eb. 20  Death of the Emperor Joseph II. ; he was succeeded by Leo
pold n.
Feb. 14— The Federation, or celebration of the anniversary of the cap
ture of the Bastile.
gept. 4— Resignation of M. Necker.
jygj  ]yray 15  Decree of the Assembly admitting men of colour to the rights of
citizens.
June 21— Flight of Louis XIV. ; he was stopped at Varennes.
Aug. 27— Convention of Pilnitz between Austria, Prussia, and Saxony, in
regard to the affairs of France.
gept. 14— Acceptance of the Constitution by Louis XVI.
Sept. 30— Close of the Constituent Assembly.
Oct. I— Meeting of the Legislative Assembly.

342 NOTES. ->
1792 — March 1 — Death of the Emperor Leopold II. : he was succeeded by Francis
II., the present emperor.
Marclj29 — Death of Gustavus III., King of Sweden, in consequence of as
sassination.
April 20 — France declares waragainst Austria.
June 20 — Insurrection of the populace ofthe suburbs: the multitude enter
the TuiUeries, but are dispersed without bloodshed.
July 14 — Oath of the Federation, on the third anniversaiy of the destruc
tion of the Bastile.
July 26 — Proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick as general of the Prus
sian army.
Aug. . 10 — Insurrection in Paris ; forcible entrance into the TuiUeries and
massacre ofthe guards ; suspension ofthe King's power.
Sept. 2 — Massacres in Paris.
Sept. 21 — Close of the Legislative Assembly and opening of the National
Convention ; royalty abolished ; the republican government
proclaimed in France ; retreat of the Prussians from Cham
pagne.
Nov. 6 — Battle of Jemmappes.
1793— Jan. 21— Execution of Louis XVI.
Feb. 1 — War declared by the National Convention against England and
Holland.
April 6 — The committee de Salut public formed by the Convention.
May 31 — Proscription of the Girondists ; success of the Jacobins ; begin
ning of the reign- of terror.
June 24 — A new constitution, called Constitution of 1793, presented by the
Convention to the French people.
Sept. 29 — Prices arbitrarily regulated by the law of the maximum.
Oct. 6 — Introduction of the new French calendar.
Oct. 25 — Execution of the Queen.
Oct. 31 — Execution of Brissot, Vergniaud, Gensonne, and others : com
plete ascendency of the Jacobins.
May 10 — Execution of Madame Elizabeth followed by a succession of ju
dicial murders, until
1794 — July 27 — Fall of Robespierre ; end of the reign of terror.
1795 — January — Holland occupied by .the French.
May 17 — Peace between France and Prussia concluded at Bale.
July 22 — Peace between France and Spain concluded likewise at Bale.
Aug. 22 — New constitution decreed by the Convention ; the executive
power lodged in the Directory.
Oct. 2(5 — Close of the National Convention.
Oct. 28 — Opening of tlie new Legislative Body in two houses; one, the
Council of Elders, the other, tlie Council of Five Hundred.
Nov. , 4 — The Executive Directory installed.
179(5 — March 30 — Bonaparte appointed to the command in Italy.
April 12, 13, 14, 15 — His first successes, followed by the occupation of Pied
mont and Lombardy.
Oct. k Nov.— Lord Malmesbury's negotiation at Paris.

NOTES. 343
1796— Nov. 17— Death of Catharine II. of Russia:
Dec. 15 — Failure of the French expedition against Ireland.
1797 April 18 — Preliminaries of Leoben between France and Austria.
July &. Aug.— Lord Malmesbury's negotiation at Lisle.
Sept. 4 — Revolution of the 18th Fructidor at Paris, in favour of Barras
and his party ; banishment of Carnot, Pichegru, Barthelemy,
and others.
1798^-May 19— The French expedition for Egypt sails from Toulon. .
August 1 — Their fleet destroyed by Nelson at Aboukir.
1799 — March 1 — Renewal of war on tlie Continent.
April to Sept. — Successes of the Allies.
Sept, —Holland invaded hy the EngHisli and Russians.
Oct. 16 — Bonaparte arrives at Paris from Egypt..
Nov. 9 — Revolution of 18th Brumaire in favour of Bonaparte.
1800 — May — Successes of Moreau in Germany.
June 14 — Battle of Marengo, followed by the evacuation of Piedmont and
Lombardy by the Austrians.
Dec. 3 — Battle of Hohenlinden.
1801 — Feb. 9 — Peace of Luneville between France and Germany.
Oct. 1 — Preliminaries of Peace between France and England.
1802 — March 22— Peace concluded at Amiens.
August 2 — Bonaparte proclaimed Consul for life.
Oct. . — Switzerland occupied by the French.
1803 — May 16 — Renewal of war between France and England.
1804 — March 21 — Execution ofthe Due d'Enghien.
May 18 — Bonaparte declared Emperor.
Dec. 2 — Crowned and anointed by the Pope.
1805 — April 11 — Secret treaty of St. Petersburgh for a third coalition against
France.
Aug. 27 — The French troops marched from Boulogne to the Rhine.
Sept. 25 — Passage of the Rhine by the French.
Oct. 19 — Capitulation of the Austrians at Ulm.
Oct. 21 — Battle of Trafalgar.
Nov. 13 — The French enter Vienna.
Dec. 2 — Battle of Austerlitz.
Dec. 26  Peace of Presburg, between France and Austria.
1806— June 5— Louis Bonaparte proclaimed King of Holland.
ju]y 12  Formation ofthe Confederation of the Rhine.
Lord Lauderdale's negotiation at Paris.
Oct- i  Bonaparte crosses the Rhine at Mentz to march against the Prus
sians. . .
Oct. 14 — Battle of Jena.
Oct. 27— Bonaparte enters Berlin.
Nov. 21— His Berlin decree against British commerce.
jg07_Feb. 8— Battle of Eylau. ,
June 14— Battle of Friedland.
July 7— Peace of Tilsit.

344 NOTES.
1808 — April 15 — Bonaparte arrives at Bayonne.
May 9— Abdication ofthe King of Spain, and cession of all his territories
to Bonaparte.
June 6 — Joseph Bonaparte proclaimed King of Spain — inspection in
Asturia and other parts of Spain against the French.
July 20— Capitulation of General Dupont to the Spaniards.
August 1 — Joseph Bonaparte retires from Madrid.
Nov. 6 — Arrival of Napoleon at head quarters at Vitoria ; followed by tbe
defeat of the Spanish armies. i*., „_ - ¦¦>
Dec. 4 — The French re-occupy Madrid.
lS09-Jan. 16— Battle of Corunna.
April 9 — War renewecUxrtween Austria a,nd France.
April 22— Battle of Eckmuhl.
May 18— Surrender of Vienna.
May 21, 22 — Battle of Aspern, or Essling.
July 7 — Battle of Wagram.
July 12 — Armistice betweeniFjrance and Austria.
Oct. 14 — Definitive treaty between these powers.
1810 — Jan. 9 — The marriage of Bonaparte and Josephine annulled.
April 1 — Marriage of Bonaparte tp Maria Louisa of Austria.
July 3 — Abdication of the throne of Holland by Louis.
July 9— Holland united to France.
Oct. — Advance of Massena into Portugal.
1811 — March 5 — Retreat of Massena from Portugal.
May 16 — Battle of Albuera, near Badajos.
1812 — March 14 — Treaty between France and Austria, previous to the hostilities
against Russia.
June 22 — War declared against Russia.
June 23 — The French army cross the Niemen.
Sept. 7— Battle of Borrodino ; followed by the entry of the French into
Moscow.
Oct. 19 — The French evacuate Moscow ; tlieir disastrous retreat.
Nov. 28 — Passage of the Beresina ; total loss of the French army.
1813 — Jan. •' — New conscriptions for the French army.
April — Bonaparte crosses the Rhine and enters Saxony.
May — Battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, followed by an armistice.
August — Austria joins the Allies ; rupture of tlie armistice.
Oct. — Battles of Leipsic and Hanau ; evacuation of Germany by the
French.
1814 — Jan. — Invasion of France by the Allies.
Feb. &, Mar. — Various conflicts in Champagne.
March 31— Paris occupied by the Allies.

THE END.