THE RESTORATION OF ORDER.THE CONSULAR REPUBLIC1.How the Work of the Revolution was Confirmed by the Consulate.
The history of the Consulate is as rich as the preceding period in psychological material.In the first place it shows us that the work of a powerful individual is superior to that of a collectivity.Bonaparte immediately replaced the bloody anarchy in which the Republic had for ten years been writhing by a period of order.That which none of the four Assemblies of the Revolution had been able to realise, despite the most violent oppression, a single man accomplished in a very short space of time.
His authority immediately put an end to all the Parisian insurrections and the attempts at monarchical resistance, and re-established the moral unity of France, so profoundly divided by intense hatreds.Bonaparte replaced an unorganised collective despotism by a perfectly organised individual despotism.
Everyone gained thereby, for his tyranny was infinitely less heavy than that which had been endured for ten long years.We must suppose, moreover, that it was unwelcome to very few, as it was very soon accepted with immense enthusiasm.
We know better to-day than to repeat with the old historians that Bonaparte overthrew the Republic.On the contrary, he retained of it all that could be retained, and never would have been retained without him, by establishing all the practicable work of the Revolution--the abolition of privileges, equality before the law, &c.--in institutions and codes of law.The Consular Government continued, moreover, to call itself the Republic.
It is infinitely probable that without the Consulate a monarchical restoration would have terminated the Directory, and would have wiped out the greater part of the work of the Revolution.Let us suppose Bonaparte erased from history.No one, I think, will imagine that the Directory could have survived the universal weariness of its rule.It would certainly have been overturned by the royalist conspiracies which were breaking out daily, and Louis XVIII.would probably have ascended the throne.Certainly he was to mount it sixteen years later, but during this interval Bonaparte gave such force to the principles of the Revolution, by establishing them in laws and customs, that the restored sovereign dared not touch them, nor restore the property of the returned emigres.
Matters would have been very different had Louis XVIII.
immediately followed the Directory.He would have brought with him all the absolutism of the ancien regime, and fresh revolutions would have been necessary to abolish it.We know that a mere attempt to return to the past overthrew Charles X.
It would be a little ingenuous to complain of the tyranny of Bonaparte.Under the ancien regime Frenchmen had supported every species of tyranny, and the Republic had created a despotism even heavier than that of the monarchy.Despotism was then a normal condition, which aroused no protest save when it was accompanied by disorder.
A constant law of the psychology of crowds shows them as creating anarchy, and then seeking the master who will enable them to emerge therefrom.Bonaparte was this master.
2.The Reorganisation of France by the Consulate.
Upon assuming power Bonaparte undertook a colossal task.All was in ruins; all was to be rebuilt.On the morrow of the coup of Brumaire he drafted, almost single-handed, the Constitution destined to give him the absolute power which was to enable him to reorganise the country and to prevail over the factions.In a month it was completed.
This Constitution, known as that of the year VIII., survived, with slight modifications, until the end of his reign.The executive power was the attribute of three Consuls, two of whom possessed a consultative voice only.The first Consul, Bonaparte, was therefore sole master of France.He appointed ministers, councillors of state, ambassadors, magistrates, and other officials, and decided upon peace or war.The legislative power was his also, since only he could initiate the laws, which were subsequently submitted to three Assemblies--the Council of State, the Tribunate, and the Legislative Corps.A fourth Assembly, the Senate, acted effectually as the guardian of the Constitution.
Despotic as he was and became, Bonaparte always called the other Consuls about him before proceeding with the most trivial measure.The Legislative Corps did not exercise much influence during his reign, but he signed no decrees of any kind without first discussing them with the Council of State.This Council, composed of the most enlightened and learned men of France, prepared laws, which were then presented to the Legislative Corps, which could criticise them very freely, since voting was secret.Presided over by Bonaparte, the Council of State was a kind of sovereign tribunal, judging even the actions of ministers.[9]
[9] Napoleon naturally often overruled the Council of State, but by no means always did so.In one instance, reported in the Memorial de Sainte-Helene, he was the only one of his own opinion, and accepted that of the majority in the following terms: ``Gentlemen, matters are decided here by majority, and being alone, I must give way; but I declare that in my conscience I yield only to form.You have reduced me to silence, but in no way convinced me.''
Another day the Emperor, interrupted three times in the expression of his opinion, addressed himself to the speaker who had just interrupted him: ``Sir, I have not yet finished; I beg you to allow me to continue.After all, it seems to me that every one has a perfect right to express his opinion here.''
