Worlds Best Histories France Vol 7 by M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

M >> M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt >> Worlds Best Histories France Vol 7

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The ecclesiastical organization in France would have been incomplete, had
Bonaparte not extended his care to the Protestant churches. In a kindly
report addressed to him on the subject, it was stated that "the
government, in declaring that Catholicism was in a majority in France, had
no wish to authorize in its favor any political or civil pre-eminence.
Protestanism is a Christian communion, bringing together, in the same
faith and to the same rites, a very large number of Frenchmen. In recent
times the Protestants were in the foremost ranks under the standards of
liberty, and have never abandoned them. All that is secured to the various
Christian communions by the articles of agreement between his Holiness and
the Government of the Republic is equally guaranteed to the Protestants,
_with the exception of the pecuniary subvention_."

The original idea of Bonaparte had, in fact, been to leave to the
Protestants the full liberty of their internal government, as well as the
charge of their worship. The principle, admitted by the Constituent
Assembly, of compensating the Catholic clergy for the confiscation of
their property, was not applicable to the Protestant Church. On a
consideration of the administrative advantages of a church paid by the
state, Bonaparte decided that the law of the 18th Germinal, year X.,
should be drawn up, regulating the nomination of pastors and consistories
after the manner of the interior government of the Protestant Church. The
principle which, in this respect, equalized the Protestant and Catholic
modes of worship was hailed with satisfaction by the reformers. The Jews
established in France were admitted to enjoy the same privileges.

At the same time that an alliance between religion and the state was being
re-established in France, Chateaubriand, still a very young man, published
his "Genius of Christianity." The sense of the poetic beauty of
Christianity then reawakening in men's minds, the success of the book was
deservedly great. It marked in recent history the epoch of literary
admiration for the greatness and beauty of the gospel. We have since sadly
learnt that it was only a shallow and barren admiration.

Peace seemed again established in the world and the church. In spite of
several difficulties and suspicions, the definitive treaty with England
was at last to be signed at Amiens. But rest seemed already to weigh
heavily on the new master of France, and the increasing ambition of his
power could not deceive men of foresight as to the causes of disturbance
in Europe which were perpetually reappearing. Scarcely were the
preliminaries of peace signed in London, when the Batavian Republic--
recently composed, after the example of the French Republic, of a
Directory and two Legislative Chambers--found itself again undergoing a
revolution, the necessary reaction of what was being done in France. On a
new constitution being proposed to the Chambers they rejected it. The
Dutch Directory, with the assistance of General Augereau, effected at the
Hague, in September, 1800, the _coup d'etat_ which took place in Paris on
the 18th Brumaire; the representatives were dismissed, and the people were
assembled to pronounce upon the new constitution. Only 50,000 voters out
of 400,000 electors presented themselves in the Assemblies. A president
was chosen for three months. The absolute authority of the First Consul
was secured in the Batavian Republic.

In Switzerland, an agitation diligently kept up throughout all the
cantons, rendered a government there impossible. The French minister at
Berne, "a powerless conciliator of the divided parties," as Bonaparte
called him, received secret instructions from him. "Citizen Verninac must,
under all the circumstances, say publicly that the present government can
only be considered provisional, and give them to understand that, not only
does the French Government not rely upon it, but it is even dissatisfied
with its composition and procedure. It is a mockery of nations to believe
that France will acknowledge as the intention of the Helvetic people the
will of the sixteen persons who compose the Legislative Body." The French
troops had evacuated Switzerland. The First Consul was scheming to annex
the canton of Valais to the two departments of Mont Terrible and Leman,
which he had already taken from the Helvetian territory. After several
months passed, the seeds of discord began to bear fruit; and Aloys of
Reding, formerly Landamman, being overthrown, Dolder, the leader of the
radicals, was raised in his place. As a concession to the patriotic wishes
of the Swiss, the French troops were suddenly recalled from their
territory. When freed from that constant menace, interior dissensions
burst forth; the Landamman Dolder, replaced at Berne by Mulinen, took
refuge in Lausanne, where he founded a new government. The cantons were
already taking sides, when the First Consul launched a proclamation as the
natural arbiter of the destinies of Switzerland:--

"People of Helvetia, you have been disputing for three years without
understanding each other. If you are left longer to yourselves, you will
kill yourselves in three years without understanding each other any
better. Your history, moreover, proves that your civil wars have never
been finished unless by the efficacious intervention of France. I shall
therefore be mediator in your quarrels, but my mediation will be an active
one, such as becomes the great nation in whose name I speak. All the
powers will be dissolved. The Senate alone, assembled at Berne, will send
deputies to Paris; each canton can also send some; and all the former
magistrates can come to Paris, to make known the means of restoring union
and tranquillity and conciliating all parties. Inhabitants of Helvetia!
revive your hopes!" At the same time Bonaparte said to Mulinen, who had
already escaped to Paris, "I am now thoroughly persuaded of the necessity
of some definitive measure. If in a few days the conditions of my
proclamation are not fulfilled, 30,000 men will enter Switzerland under
General Ney's orders; and if they thus compel me to use force it is all
over with Switzerland. It is time to put an end to that; and I see no
middle course between a Swiss government strongly organized, and friendly
to France, or no Switzerland at all."

On the 15th October, 1802, General Ney received orders to enter
Switzerland, and publish "a short proclamation in simple terms, announcing
that the small cantons and the Senate had asked for the mediation of the
First Consul, who had granted it; but a handful of men, friends of
disorder, and indifferent to the evils of their country, having deceived
and led astray a portion of the people, the First Consul was obliged to
take measures to disperse these senseless persons, and punish them if they
persisted in their rebellion." At the same time, after an imperious
summons, the chiefs of the Swiss aristocracy, Mulinen, Affry, and
Watteville, joined the radical deputies in Paris. There could be no long
discussion, as the plan of the Helvetic Constitution was decided upon in
the mind of the First Consul. He had recognized the inconveniences arising
from the "unitary government:" he next abolished the old independent
institutions of the cantons, and systematically weakened the central
power, as the Diet, composed of twenty-five deputies, was to sit by
rotation in the six principal cantons; he at the same time nominated Affry
as President of the Helvetian Confederation, after carefully securing his
services. Henceforward the Swiss cantons, free in their internal
government, fell as a state under the rule of France. "I shall never
permit in Switzerland any other influence than my own, though it should
cost me 100,000 men," Bonaparte had said to the assembled deputies. "It is
acknowledged by Europe that Italy, Holland, and Switzerland are at the
disposition of France." At the same time (11th September, 1802), and as if
to justify this haughty declaration, the territory of Piedmont was divided
into six French departments, the Isle of Elba was united to France, and
the Duchy of Parma was definitively occupied by our troops.

For a long time the north of Italy was subjected to the laws of its
conqueror, and he arrogantly made it bear the whole burden. When the
Congress of Vienna had begun its sittings, Talleyrand absolutely forbade
Joseph Bonaparte to allow the usurpations of France in Europe to be
discussed. "You will consider it a fixed point that the French Government
can listen to nothing regarding the King of Sardinia, the Stadtholder, or
the internal affairs of Batavia, Germany, Helvetia, or the Italian
republics. All these subjects are absolutely unknown to our discussions
with England."

England admitted the truce of which she stood in need. She tacitly
accepted the reticences of the negotiators; and without any protest on her
part the First Consul set out for Lyons, where he had summoned the 500
members of the Italian Consulte. Overwhelmed with the gifts of her
conqueror, the Cisalpine Republic was now to receive from his hands a
definitive constitution. Lombardy as far as the Adige, the Legations, the
Duchy of Modena, had sent their deputies to France, prepared to vote by
acclamation for the constitution, which had been carefully prepared by
several leading Italians under the eyes of the First Consul. The Consulte
of Milan had accepted it. Bonaparte reserved to himself the direction of
the choice of functionaries, and the important nomination of the President
of the Republic. Lyons was in grand holiday, crowded by the Italians and
numerous bodies of troops. The old army of Italy, on arriving from Egypt,
had been ordered to Lyons; and the populace hailed with delight the
arrival of the First Consul, who was always popular personally. The
Consulte opened its sittings with distinction; and soon the Italian
deputies understood who was the president designed for them by the
solicitude of General Bonaparte. They accepted without repugnance his
proclamation:--"The Consulte has appointed a committee of thirty persons,"
wrote the First Consul to his colleagues; "they have reported that,
considering the internal and external circumstances of the Cisalpine, it
was indispensable to allow me to conduct the first magistracy, till such
time as the situation may permit, and I may judge it suitable, to name a
successor." To the request of the Consulte, in humble terms, the general
replied, "I find no one among you who has sufficient claims upon public
opinion--who would be sufficiently independent of local influences--who,
in short, has rendered to his country sufficiently great services, for me
to trust him with the first magistracy." The Count Melzi accepted the
vice-presidentship of the Republic. On the 28th January, after reviewing
the army of Egypt, the First Consul, president of the Italian Republic,
started again for Paris.

He was now waiting for news of the expedition which he had recently sent
to St. Domingo. The horrors which signalized the violent emancipation of
our negroes and their possession of the territory, was succeeded by a
state somewhat regular, largely due to the unexpected authority of a
black, recently a slave, who displayed faculties which are very unusual in
his race. In his difficult government, Toussaint Louverture had given
proofs of a generalship, foresight, courage, and gentleness which gave him
the right to address Bonaparte, the object of his passionate admiration,
in the following terms: "The first of the blacks to the first of the
whites." Toussaint Louverture loved France, and rendered homage to it by
driving from the island the Spanish and English troops. He claimed the
ratification of his Constitution, and sent his sons to France to be
properly educated.

The instructions given by the First Consul to his brother-in-law, General
Leclerc, are still secret. He had placed under his command 20,000 men,
excellent troops, borrowed from the old army of the Rhine, the generals
and officers of which were unwilling to resign during the peace. The
squadron, in charge of Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, was a large one. The
English had been informed of the expedition, by a note signed by
Talleyrand but drawn up by Bonaparte himself. "Let England know," said he,
"that in undertaking to destroy the government of the negroes at St.
Domingo, I have been less guided by commercial and financial
considerations than by the necessity of smothering in all parts of the
world every kind of inquietude and disturbance--that one of the chief
benefits of peace for England at the present moment was that it was
concluded at a time when the French Government had not yet recognized the
organization of St. Domingo, and afterwards the power of the negroes. The
liberty of the blacks acknowledged at St. Domingo, and legitimized by the
French Government, would be for all time a fulcrum for the Republic in the
New World. In that case the sceptre of the New World must sooner or later
have fallen into the hands of the negroes; the shock resulting for England
is incalculable, whereas the shock of the empire of the negroes would,
with reference to France, reckon as part of the Revolution."

At the same time, and in contradiction to the intentions which he
announced to England, Bonaparte wrote to Toussaint Louverture: "We have
conceived esteem for you, and we are pleased to recognize and proclaim the
services which you have rendered to the French people. If their flag still
floats over St. Domingo, it is to you and the brave blacks it is due.
Called by your talents and the force of circumstances to the first
command, you have overthrown the civil war, curbed the persecution of
several fierce men, restored honor to religion and the worship to God, to
whom everything is due. The Constitution which you have made contains many
good things: the circumstances in which you are placed, surrounded on
every side by enemies, without the power of being assisted or provisioned
by the capital (mother country), have rendered legitimate the articles of
the Constitution which otherwise are not so. We have informed your
children and their tutor of our sentiments towards you. We shall send them
back to you. Assist the general by your advice, your influence, and your
talents. What can you desire? The liberty of the negroes? You know that in
every country in which we have been, we have given it to the peoples who
had it not. Hence consideration, honors, fortune! After the services which
you have rendered, which you can render in this matter, with the personal
feelings which we entertain for you, you ought not to be doubtful as to
the position before you. Consider, general, that if you are the first of
your color who has arrived at so great power, and is distinguished by his
valor and military talents, you are also before God and before us the most
responsible for their conduct. Count without reserve upon our esteem, and
let your behavior be that which becomes one of the principal citizens of
the greatest nation of the world."

One of the incurable evils of a long state of slavery is the distrust
begot in those who have undergone it, though it is also the defence and
instinctive protection of weakness. Along with his admiration for the
First Consul and his traditional attachment to France, Toussaint
Louverture remained uneasy and suspicious as a slave. Already, under the
orders of General Richepanse, the expedition was being prepared which was
to re-establish slavery in Guadeloupe, in spite of the decrees of the
Constituent Assembly and the formal declaration of the First Consul in a
statement of the State of the Republic (November 30th, 1801). When the
French squadron was signalled at St. Domingo, and the negro dictator
ascertained the crushing force brought to impose upon him the will of the
mother country, he made preparations for defence, entrusted his
lieutenant, Christophe, with the guard of the shore and the town of Le
Cap, ordering him to oppose the landing by threatening the white
population with fire and sword should they offer to assist the French
troops. Toussaint, counting upon the effect of threats, had not estimated
the savage horror of slavery which animated his companions, nor the
ferocity which could be displayed by men of his race when let loose upon
their former masters. On entering the roads the French squadron began to
fire; the negroes set the town on fire, put chains on some of the
principal white men, and withdrew to the mountains or hills. Toussaint
having preceded them, the army of negroes was again formed round him. The
coast, however, being already taken by General Leclerc, the white
population joined them; and a large number of the negroes, becoming
alarmed, accepted the conditions offered by the general. Then, after
offering some defence, several of Toussaint's lieutenants, one after
another, surrendered. The most ferocious of them, Dessalines, had just
been driven from St. Marc, where he committed great atrocities. Toussaint
was pursued to his retreat, and after his entrenchments were forced he
accepted a capitulation, and withdrew to his plantation at Ennery. The
climate of St. Domingo caused frightful ravages to the French army, and
the consequent weakness of his troops greatly increased General Leclerc's
alarm. He had, moreover received peremptory orders, the severity of which
he frequently modified. "Follow exactly my instructions," General
Bonaparte wrote to him on the 16th of March, 1802, "and as soon as ever
you have got rid of Toussaint, Christophe, Dessalines, and the leading
brigands, and the masses of the blacks are disarmed, send away all the
blacks and men of color who shall have played any part in the civil
troubles." A certain agitation continued to reign among the blacks, and
Leclerc seized upon this pretext to summon Toussaint to a conference. The
vanity of the former dictator was flattered, and triumphed over his
mistrust. "These white gentlemen who know everything still have need of
the old negro," said he, and he set out for the French camp (June 10,
1802). Immediately arrested and cast into a frigate, he was taken to the
town of Le Cap; his family had been captured as well as himself, and he
found them on board the vessel that carried him to France. He was alone
when he was imprisoned in the Temple, and afterwards transferred to the
fortress of Joux, in the icy casemates under the canopy of the mountains.
The only question asked him was where he had hidden his treasures. The
dictator of the blacks gave no answer; he had fallen into a deep lethargy.
On the 27th April, 1803, he at last expired, the victim of cold,
imprisonment, and solitude. A few months later (November, 1803) the
mournful remains of our army evacuated St. Domingo, for ever lost to the
power of France. General Leclerc was dead of fever, as well as the greater
part of his officers, like Richepanse at Guadeloupe. The climate of his
country had avenged Toussaint Louverture; the instruments of Bonaparte had
perished, the enterprise had failed. The sister of General Bonaparte
returned to France, ready for higher destinies; the wife and children of
the dictator of St. Domingo pined away slowly in exile.

This check was insignificant in the midst of so much success for his
armies, and so many easy triumphs over the subdued nations; but the
jealous susceptibility of the First Consul kept increasing. He had
punished Toussaint Louverture for the resistance he had encountered in St.
Domingo; he was irritated against the remnants of isolated opposition
which he encountered at times among a few members of the Tribunate. The
treaties of peace, so brilliantly concluded after the signature of the
preliminaries of London, had been ratified without difficulty by the Corps
Legislatif. A single article of the treaty with Russia raised strong
objections; it was obscure, and assured the Czar of the repression of
Polish plots in France. The republican pride was irritated at the word
_subjects_ which, was found in the clause. "Our armies have fought for ten
years because we were citizens," cried Chenier, "and we have become
subjects! Thus has been accomplished the desire of the double coalition!"
The treaty was, nevertheless, ratified by an immense majority. But the
anger of the master had been roused; "The tribunes are _dogs_ that I
encounter everywhere," he often exclaimed. The Tribunate and the Corps
Legislatif soon incurred his displeasure afresh--the one by discussing,
the other by rejecting, a few preliminary articles of the new civil code.
The First Consul was present at the discussions of the Council of State,
often taking part in them with singular spirit and penetration, sometimes
warped by personal or political prejudices. He had adopted as his own the
work of the learned lawyers who had drawn up and compiled for the honor
and utility of France the wisest and the simplest doctrines of civil and
commercial law. "We can still risk two battles," said Bonaparte, after the
rejection of the first head of the code. "If we gain them we will continue
the march we have commenced. If we lose them we will enter into our winter
quarters, and will advise as to the course to be taken."

The second head of the code was voted; the third, relative to the
deprivation of civil rights, was excessive in its rigor; it was rejected.
At the same time, and as if to give proof of its independence, the Corps
Legislatif, which had just chosen as its president Dupuis, author of a
philosophical work, then famous, upon the "Origin of all Religions," sent
up as candidates for the Senate the Abbe Gregoire and Daunou. The former
had been dismissed from his charge as constitutional bishop at the time of
the Concordat, the second was honored of all men, moderate in a very firm
opposition. The Abbe Gregoire was elected. The First Consul had presented
Generals Jourdan, Lamartilliere, and Berruyer, accompanying their
candidature with a message. He broke out violently during a sitting of the
Senate. "I declare to you," he said, "that if you appoint Daunou senator,
I shall take it as a personal injury, and you know that I never suffer
that!" General Lamartilliere was appointed, but the slight notion of
independence in the constituent bodies had troubled and displeased
Bonaparte; he recoiled before the risks that awaited the Concordat and the
great project of public instruction presented for the acceptance of the
Corps Legislatif. On the 8th of January, 1802, a message was brought in
during the sitting. "Legislators," said the First Consul, "the government
has resolved to withdraw the projects of law of the civil code. It is with
pain that it finds itself obliged to defer to another period laws in which
the interests of the nation are so much involved, but it is convinced that
the time has not yet come when these great discussions can be carried on
with that calm and unity of intention which they require."

This was not enough to assure the repose of General Bonaparte and the
docile acceptance of his wishes; Consul Cambaceres, clever at veiling
absolute power with an appearance of legality, proposed to confide to the
Senate the task of eliminating from the Tribunate and the Corps Legislatif
the fifth who ought regularly to be designated by lot. The legislative
labors were suspended; the First Consul had set out for Lyons, in order to
guide the destinies of the Italian Republic. He wrote thence to his
colleagues: "I think that I shall be in Paris at the end of the decade,
and that I shall myself be able to make the Senate understand the
situation in which we find ourselves. I do not think it will be possible
to continue to march forward when the constituted authorities are composed
of enemies; the system has none greater than Daunou; and since, in fine,
all these affairs of the Corps Legislatif and the Tribunate have resulted
in scandal, the least thing that the Senate can do is to remove the twenty
and the sixty bad members, and replace them by well-disposed persons. The
will of the nation is that the government may not be hindered from doing
well, and that the head of Medusa may no longer be displayed in our
Tribunes and in our Assemblies. The conduct of Sieyes in this circumstance
proves perfectly that, after having concurred in the destruction of all
the constitutions since 1791, he still wishes to try his hand against this
one. It is very extraordinary that he does not see the folly of it. He
ought to go and burn a wax taper at Notre Dame for having been delivered
so happily and in a manner so unhoped for. But the older I grow the more I
perceive that every one has to fulfil his destiny."

When the First Consul returned to Paris, the opposition, more brilliant
than effective, of a few eloquent members, had ceased in the Tribunate;
the Corps Legislatif had undergone the same purification. Faithful
servants had been carefully chosen by the Senate--some capable of ill-
temper and anger, like Lucien Bonaparte and Carnot; others distinguished
by their administrative merit, like Daru--all fit to vote the great
projects which the First Consul meditated. He did not, however, condescend
to submit to them the general amnesty in favor of all the emigrants whose
names had not yet been erased from the fatal list. Perhaps he still
dreaded some remains of revolutionary passion. This act of justice and
clemency was the object of a Senatus Consultum. The First Consul kept in
his own hands the unsold confiscated property of emigrants--a powerful
means of action, which he often exercised in order to attach to himself
men and families of consideration by direct or personal restitution.