Count de Las Cases
Mémorial de Sainte Hélène
London, 1823
My Residence with the Emperor Napoleon.
Volume 2, Part 4
1816, June 23.
(also, Montholon, Vol II, ch 13)
Adam Smith : Wealth of Nations, book 3, ch 1
Henry Clay, Tuesday March 30th (11:00--15:30) and 31st, 1824, House of Representatives:
"The principle of the system under consideration, has the sanction of some of the best and wisest men, in all ages, in foreign countries as well as in our own --of the Edwards, of Henry the great, of Elizabeth, of the Colberts, abroad; of our Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, at home. But it comes recommended to us by a higher authority than any of these, illustrious as they unquestionably are --by the master spirit of the age-- that extraordinary man, who has thrown the Alexanders and the Cæsars infinitely farther behind him than they stood in advance of the most eminent of their predecessors --that singular man, who, whether he was seated on his imperial throne, deciding the fate of nations and allotting kingdoms to the members of his family, with the same composure, if not with the same affection, as that with which a Virginia father divides his plantations among his children, or on the miserable rock of St. Helena, to which he was condemned by the cruelty and the injustice of his unworthy victors, is equally an object of the most intense admiration. He appears to have comprehended, with the rapidity of intuition, the true interests of a state, and to have been able, by the turn of a single expression, to devolope the secret springs of the policy of cabinets. We find that Las Cases reports him to have said:"
After dinner the Emperor orered my Atlas to be brought to him, for the purpose of verifying the particulars which he had collected in his books on Africa, and he was astonished to find every thing correspond so accurately.
He then began to converse on trade, and the principles and systems which he had introduced. He opposed the principles of economists, which he said were correct in theory though erroneous in their application. The political constitution of different states, continued he, must render these principles defective ; local circumstances continually call for deviations from their uniformity. Duties, he said, which were so severely condemned by political economists, should not, it is true, be an object to the treasury : they should be the guarantee and protection of a nation, and should correspond with the nature and the objects of its trade. Holland, which is destitute of productions and manufactures, and which has a trade only of transit and commission, should be free of all fetters and barriers. France, on the contrary, which is rich in every sort of production and manufactures, should incessantly guard against the importations of a rival, who might still continue superior to her, and also against the cupidity, egotism, and indifference of mere brokers.
“ I have not fallen into the error of modern systematizers,” said the Emperor, “ who imagine that all the wisdom of nations is centered in themselves. Experience is the true wisdom of nations. And what does all the reasoning of economists amount to ? They incessantly extol the prosperity of England, and hold her up as our model ; but the Custom-House system is more burthensome and arbitrary in England than in any other country. They also condemn prohibitions ; yet it was England set the example of prohibitions, and they are in fact necessary with regard to certain objects. Duties cannot adequately supply the place of prohibitions : there will always be found means to defeat the object of the legislator. In France we are still very far behind on these delicate points, which are still unperceived or ill-understood by the mass of society. Yet what advancement have we not made,—what correctness of ideas has been introduced by my gradual classification of agriculture, industry, and trade ; objects so distinct in themselves, and which present so great and positive a graduation !
1st.—Agriculture ; the soul, the first basis of the empire.
2nd.—Industry ; the comfort and happiness of the population.
3rd.—Foreign trade ; the superabundance, the proper application of the surplus of agriculture and industry.
“ Agriculture was continually improving during the whole course of the revolution. Foreigners thought it ruined in France. In 1814, however, the English were compelled to admit that we had little or nothing to learn from them.
“ Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made immense progress during my reign. The application of chemistry to the manufactures caused them to advance with giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which extended throughout Europe.
“ Foreign trade, which in its results is infinitely inferior to agriculture, was an object of subordinate importance in my mind. Foreign trade is made for agriculture and home industry, and not the two latter for the former. The interests of these three fundamental cases are diverging and frequently conflicting. I always promoted them in their natural gradation ; but I could not and ought not to have ranked them all on an equality. Time will unfold what I have done, the national resources which I created, and the emancipation from the English which I brought about. We have now the secret of the commercial treaty of 1783. France still exclaims against its author ; but the English demanded it on pain of resuming the war. They wished to do the same after the treaty of Amiens ; but I was then all-powerful ; I was a hundred cubits high. I replied that if they were in possession of the heights of Montmartre I would still refuse to sign the treaty. These words we echoed through Europe.
“ The English will now impose some such treaty on France, at least if popular clamour, and the opposition of the mass of the nation, do not force them to draw back. This thraldom would be an additional disgrace in the eyes of that nation, which is now beginning to acquire a just perception of her own interests.
“ When I came to the head of the government, the American ships, which were permitted to enter our ports on the score of their neutrality, brought us raw materials, and had the impudence to sail from France without freight, for the purpose of taking in cargoes of English goods in London. They moreover had the insolence to make their payments, when they had any to make, by giving bills on persons in London. Hence the vast profits reaped by the English manufacturers and brokers, entirely to our prejudice. I made a law that no American should import goods to any amount, without immediately exporting their exact equivalent. A loud outcry was raised against this : it was said that I had ruined trade. But what was the consequence ? Notwithstanding the closing of my ports, and in spite of the English who ruled the seas, the Americans returned and submitted to my regulations. What might I not have done under more favourable circumstances ?
“ Thus I naturalized in France the manufacture of cotton, which includes :—
1st Spun-cotton.—We did not previously spin it ourselves ; the English supplied us with it as a sort of favour.
2d. The web.—We did not yet make it ; it came to us from abroad.
3d. The printing.—This was the only part of the manufacture that we performed ourselves. I wished to naturalize the two first branches ; and I proposed to the Council of State, that their importation should be prohibited. This excited great alarm. I sent for Oberkamp, and I conversed with him a long time. I learned from him, that this prohibition would doubtless produce a shock, but that after a year or two of perseverance, it would prove a triumph, whence we should derive immense advantages. Then I issued my decree in spite of all ; this was a true piece of statesmanship.
“ I at first confined myself merely to prohibiting the web ; then I extended the prohibition to spun cotton ; and we now possess within ourselves the three branches of the cotton manufacture to the great benefit of our population, and the injury and regret of the English :—which proves that in civil government as well as in war, decision of character is often indispensable to success. I offered a million of francs as a reward for the discovery of a method of spinning flax like cotton, and this discovery would undoubtedly have been made, but for our unfortunate circumstances. I should then have prohibited cotton if I could not have naturalized it on the continent.
“ The encouragement of the production of silk was an object that equally claimed my attention. As Emperor of France and King of Italy I calculated on receiving an annual revenue of 120 millions from the production of silk.
“ The system of commercial licences was no doubt mischievous ! Heaven forbid that I should have laid it down as a principle. It was the invention of the English ; with me it was only a momentary resource. Even the continental system, in its extent and rigour, was by me regarded merely as a measure occasioned by the war and temporary circumstances.
“ The difficulties and even the total stagnation of foreign trade during my reign, arose out of the force of circumstances and the accidents of the time. One brief interval of peace would immediately have restored it to its natural level.”
23 JUIN 1816
NAPOLÉON ÉCONOMISTE — LE « SYSTÈME CONTINENTAL »
DIMANCHE 23
Sur la mémoire. — Commerce. — Idées et système de Napoléon sur divers points d’économie politique.
Sur les trois heures j’ai été chez l’Empereur. Dans la première jouissance de ses nouveaux livres, il avait passé toute la nuit à lire et à dicter des notes à Marchand[1]; il était fort fatigué, ma visite lui a donné du repos, il a fait sa toilette, et nous avons été nous promener dans le jardin.
Pendant le dîner, l’Empereur parlait des immenses lectures de sa jeunesse ; tous les livres qu’il vient de parcourir relatifs à l’Égypte lui font voir qu’il n’avait rien oublié de ce qu’il avait lu ; il n’avait rien ou presque rien à corriger de ce qu’il avait dicté sur l’Égypte ; il y avait ajouté bien des choses qu’il n’avait pas lues, mais qu’il se trouve, par ces livres, avoir devinées juste.
On a parlé de la mémoire : il disait qu’une tête sans mémoire est une place sans garnison ; la sienne était heureuse, elle n’était point générale, absolue ; mais relative, fidèle, et seulement pour ce qui lui était nécessaire. Quelqu’un ayant dit que sa mémoire, à lui, tenait de sa vue, qu’elle devenait confuse par l’éloignement des lieux et des objets, à mesure qu’il changeait de place, l’Empereur a repris que, pour lui, la sienne tenait du coeur, qu’elle conservait le souvenir fidèle de tout ce qui lui avait été cher.
A propos de bonne mémoire et de tendres ressouvenirs, je dois placer ici un mot de l’Empereur qui m’a échappé dans le temps. Racontant un jour à table une de ses affaires en Égypte, il nommait numéro par numéro les huit ou dix demi-brigades qui en faisaient partie, sur quoi Mme Bertrand ne put s’empêcher de l’interrompre, demandant comment il était possible, après tant de temps, de se rappeler ainsi tous ces numéros. « Madame, lé souvenir d’un amant pour ses anciennes maîtresses » fut la vive réplique de Napoléon.
Après dîner, l’Empereur s’est fait apporter mon Atlas, voulant y vérifier le résumé de tout ce qu’il venait de parcourir dans ses livres sur l’Afrique, et il s’est étonné de l’y retrouver si fidèlement.
Il est passé de là au commerce, à ses principes, aux systèmes qu’il a enfantés. L’Empereur a combattu les économistes, dont les principes pouvaient être vrais dans leur énoncé, mais devenaient vicieux dans leur application[2]. La combinaison politique des divers États, continuait-il, rendait ces principes fautifs ; les localités particulières demandaient à chaque instant des déviations de leur grande uniformité. Les douanes que les économistes blâmaient ne devaient point être un objet de fisc, il est vrai ; mais elles devaient être la garantie et les soutiens d’un peuple ; elles devaient suivre la nature et l’objet du commerce. La Hollande, sans productions, sans manufactures, n’ayant qu’un commerce d’entrepôt et de commission, ne devait connaître ni entraves ni barrière. La France, au contraire, riche en productions, en industrie de toute sorte, devait sans cesse être en garde contre les importations d’une rivale qui lui demeurait encore supérieure ; elle devait l’être contre l’avidité, l’égoïsme, l’indifférence des purs commissionnaires.
« Je n’ai garde, disait l’Empereur, de tomber dans la faute des hommes à systèmes modernes ; de me croire, par moi seul et par mes idées, la sagesse des nations. La vraie sagesse des nations, c’est l’expérience. Et voyez comme raisonnent les économistes : ils nous vantent sans cesse la prospérité de l’Angleterre, et nous la montrent constamment pour modèle. Mais c’est elle dont le système des douanes est le plus lourd, le plus absolu, et ils déclament sans cesse contre les douanes ; ils voudraient nous les interdire. Ils proscrivent aussi les prohibitions ; et l’Angleterre est le pays qui donne l’exemple, des prohibitions ; et elles sont, en effet, nécessaires pour certains objets ; elles ne sauraient être suppléées par la force des droits : la contrebande et la fantaisie feraient manquer le but du législateur. Nous demeurons encore en France bien arriérés sur ces matières délicates : elles sont encore étrangères ou confuses pour la masse de la société. Cependant quel pas n’avions-nous pas fait, quelle rectitude d’idées n’avait pas répandue la seule classification graduelle que j’avais consacrée de l’agriculture, de l’industrie et du commerce[3] ! objets si distincts et d’une graduation si réelle et si grande !
« 1° L’agriculture ; l’âme, la base première de l’empire.
« 2° L’industrie ; l’aisance, le bonheur de la population.
« 3° Le commerce extérieur. la surabondance, le bon emploi des deux autres.
« L’agriculture n’a cessé de gagner durant tout le cours de la Révolution. Les étrangers la croyaient perdue chez nous[4]. En 1814, les Anglais ont été pourtant contraints de confesser qu’ils avaient peu ou point à nous montrer.
« L’industrie ou les manufactures et le commerce intérieur ont fait sous moi des progrès immenses. L’application de la chimie aux manufactures les a fait avancer à pas de géant. J’ai imprimé un élan qui sera partagé de toute l’Europe[5].
« Le commerce extérieur, infiniment au-dessous dans ses résultats aux deux autres, leur a été aussi constamment subordonné dans ma pensée. Celui-ci est fait pour les deux autres ; les deux autres ne sont pas faits pour lui. Les intérêts de ces trois bases essentielles sont divergents, souvent opposés. Je les ai constamment servis dans leur rang naturel, mais n’ai jamais pu ni dû les satisfaire à la fois. Le temps fera connaître ce qu’ils me doivent tous, les ressources nationales que je leur ai créées, l’affranchissement des Anglais que j’avais ménagé. Nous avons à présent le secret du traité de commerce de 1786[6]. La France crie encore contre son auteur ; mais les Anglais l’avaient exigé sous peine de recommencer la guerre. Ils voulurent m’en faire autant après le traité d’Amiens ; mais j’étais puissant et haut de cent coudées[7]. Je répondis qu’ils seraient maîtres des hauteurs de Montmartre, que je m’y refuserais encore ; et ces paroles remplirent l’Europe.
« Ils en imposeront un aujourd’hui, à moins que la clameur publique, toute la masse de la nation ne les forcent à reculer ; et ce servage, en effet, serait une infamie de plus aux yeux de cette même nation, qui commence à posséder aujourd’hui de vraies lumières sur ses intérêts.
« Quand je pris le gouvernement, les Américains, qui venaient chez nous à l’aide de leur neutralité, nous apportaient les matières brutes, et avaient l’impertinence de repartir à vide pour aller se remplir à Londres des manufactures anglaises. Ils avaient la seconde impertinence de nous faire leurs payements, s’ils en avaient à faire, sur Londres ; de là les grands profits des manufacturiers et des commissionnaires anglais, entièrement à notre détriment. J’exigeai qu’aucun Américain ne pût importer aucune valeur, sans exporter aussitôt son exact équivalent ; on jeta les hauts cris parmi nous, j’avais tout perdu, disait-on. Qu’arriva-t-il néanmoins ? C’est que mes ports fermés, en dépit même des Anglais qui donnaient la loi sur les mers, les Américains revinrent se soumettre à mes ordonnances[8]. Que n’eussé-je donc pas obtenu dans une meilleure situation !
« C’est ainsi que j’avais naturalisé au milieu de nous les manufactures de coton, qui comportent :
« 1° Du coton filé. Nous ne le filions pas ; les Anglais le fournissaient même comme une espèce de faveur.
« 2° Le tissu. Nous ne le faisions point encore ; il nous venait de l’étranger.
« 3° Enfin l’impression. C’était notre seul travail. Je voulus acquérir les deux premières branches ; je proposai au Conseil d’État d’en prohiber l’importation ; on y pâlit. Je fis venir Oberkampf[9]; je causai longtemps avec lui ; j’en obtins que cela occasionnerait une secousse sans doute, mais qu’au bout d’un an ou deux de constance, ce serait une conquête dont nous recueillerions d’immenses avantages. Alors je lançai mon décret en dépit de tous ; ce fut un vrai coup d’État[10].
« Je me contentai d’abord de prohiber le tissu ; j’arrivai enfin au coton filé, et nous possédons aujourd’hui ]es trois branches, à l’avantage immense de notre population, au détriment et à la douleur insigne des Anglais : ce qui prouve qu’en administration comme à la guerre, pour réussir il faut souvent mettre du caractère. Si j’avais pu réussir à faire filer le lin comme le coton, et j’avais offert un million pour prix de l’invention, que j’aurais obtenue indubitablement sans nos malheureuses circonstances[11], j’en serais venu à prohiber le coton, si je n’eusse pu le neutraliser sur le continent.
« Je ne m’occupais pas moins d’encourager les soies. Comme empereur et roi d’Italie, je comptais cent vingt millions de rente en récolte de soie.
« Le système des licences était vicieux sans doute ! Dieu me garde de l’avoir posé comme principe. Il était de l’invention des Anglais ; pour moi, ce n’était qu’une ressource du moment. Le Système continental lui-même dans son étendue et sa rigueur n’était, dans mes opinions, qu’une mesure de guerre et de circonstance.
« La souffrance et l’anéantissement du commerce extérieur, sous mon règne, étaient dans la force des choses, dans les accidents du temps. Un moment de paix l’eût ramené aussitôt à son niveau naturel.»
1
Outre son Précis des guerres de Jules César, mentionné
plus haut, Napoléon a dicté à Marchand des Réflexions sur le suicide, des Observations sur la tragédie de Mahomet par Voltaire, une Note sur le deuxième livre de l’Enéide de Virgile, reproduties d’après les manuscrits du fidèle valet de chambre promu exécuteur testamentaire, au t. XXXI de la Correspondance.
2
Sur «Napoléon économiste», voir Guillois : Napoléon, l’homme, le politique... II, ch. v, B. de Jouvenel, Napoléon et l’économie dirigée, etc.
3
Napoléon a déjà souligné avec complaisance au 27 mai son invention de cette «hiérarchie» à l’usage du gouvernement et de l’opinion.
4
Arthur Young et les lecteurs de ses Voyages, par une comparaison sans indulgence avec les méthodes plus évoluées de l’agriculture en Angleterre. — Dans le vaste cadre des travaux organisés par la commission officielle de recherche et de publication qui a suscité tant de monographies, ceux d’Octave Festy l’ont conduit à son grand volume de 1947 : L’Agriculture pendant la Révolution française.
5
Cette formule que l’Empereur reprendra textuellement un mois après (II, 48) a été déjà développée, on l’a vu, aux 18-20 janvier, 20 avril, 27 mai...
6
Toutes les éditions du Mémorial impriment par erreur 1783, date de la paix de Paris qui mit fin à la guerre d’Amérique et non de l’accord commercial qui en constitua pratiquement la revanche pour les Anglais. F. Dumas dans l’Étude qu’il lui a consacrée (1904) a élucidé à la lumière des papiers d’Eden, au British Museum, les conditions exactes de son élaboration et l’accueil, naturellement favorable, qu’il reçut en Angleterre, tandis qu’en France le néfaste traité allait être violemment dénoncé par les électeurs des États-Généraux (cf. R. Picard : les Cahiers de 1789 au point de vue industriel et commercial).
7
His de Butenval, auteur d’un Précis historique et économique du traité, a, dans son volume si révélateur sur l’Ètablissement en France du premier tarif général de douanes 1787-1791 (appendice X), publié les Explications données en 1802 au Premier Consul sur le traité de commerce de 1786 par son négociateur Gérard de Rayneval, qui éclairèrent la résistance de Bonaparte.
8
Voyez Marcel Dunan, Napoléon et le Système Continental en 1810, Revue d’Hist. dipl., janvier 1946.
9
Supra, I, 595, n. 2.
10
Ce passage du Mémorial a été beaucoup cité depuis que Levasseur l’a mis en vedette dans son Histoire des classes ouvrières et de l’industrie en France de 1789 à 1870. (2e éd. I, 469), mais le maître expliquait par là les grandes mesures impériales de 1806. J’ai mis en garde ailleurs contre cette erreur, traditionnellement reproduite, et qui vient d’un récit fantaisiste et mal daté des Mémoires sans garantie de Richard-Lenoir (ch. xvii). La vieille étude de Fages sur Oberkampf dans la Revue des Deux Mondes de 1860 établissait déjà que la consultation de ce manufacturier à Saint-Cloud par l’Empereur était de 1810 et répondait an revirement capital de la politique économique impériale en cette année-là.
11
[En effet le lin se file aujourd’hui comme le coton.] (Note de 1824, voyez plus haut I, 645.)
Errors of the English ministers.—Means of which England might have availed herself for the liquidation of her debt.—The Governor’s reductions.
7th.—The Emperor remained within doors the whole of the day. The Governor appeared on the grounds accompanied by a numerous group ; but we fled at his approach. Several vessels have been observed out at sea.
I was summoned to attend the Emperor, and I found him engaged in perusing a work on the state of England. This became the subject of conversation ; the Emperor said a great deal respecting the enormous national debt of England, the disadvantageous peace she had concluded, and the different means by which she might have extricated herself from her difficulties.
Napoleon possesses in an eminent degree the instinct of order and harmony. I once knew a man, who, being much engaged in arithmetical calculations, confessed that he could not enter a drawing-room without being led irresistibly to count the people who were in it ; and that when he sat down to table he could not help summing up the number of plates, glasses, &c. Napoleon, though in a more elevated sphere, has also an irresistible habit of his own, which is to develope the brand and the beautiful in every subject that comes under his attention. If he happens to converse about a city, he immediately suggests improvements and embellishments ; if a nation be the object of his consideration, he expatiates on the means of promoting her glory, prosperity, useful institutions, &c. Many of his observations, that have already been noted down, must have rendered this fact obvious to the reader.
Either the contents of the journals and other publications of the day, or the nature of our situation here, occasioned the Emperor’s attention to be constantly directed to the state of England. He frequently adverted to what she ought to have done, as well as to that which she still had to do, and which might render her future condition more prosperous. I subjoin here a few of the observations on this subject, which escaped him at various times :—
“ The Colonial system,” said he one day, “ is now at an end for all ; for England, who possesses every colony, and for the other powers, who possess none. The empire of the seas now belongs indisputably to England ; and why should she, in a new situation, wish to continue the old routine course ? Why does she not adopt plans that would be more profitable to her ? She must look forward to a sort of emancipation of her colonies. In course of time many will doubtless, escape from her do minion, and she should therefore avail herself of the present moment to obtain new securities and more advantageous connexions. Why does she not propose that the majority of her colonies shall purchase their emancipation by taking upon themselves a portion of the general debt, which would thus become specially theirs. The mother-country would by this means relieve herself of her burthens, and would nevertheless preserve all her advantages. She would retain, as pledges, the faith of treaties, reciprocal interests, similitude of language, and the force of habit ; she might moreover reserve, by way of guarantee, a single fortified point, a harbour for her ships, after the manner of the factories on the coast of Africa. ... What would she lose ? Nothing ; and she would spare herself the trouble and expense of an administration which, too often, serves only to render her odious. Her ministers, it is true, would have fewer places to give away ; but the nation would certainly be no loser.
“ I doubt not,” added he, “ that, with a thorough knowledge of the subject, some useful result might be derived from the ideas which I have just thrown out, however erroneous they may be in their first hasty conception. Even with regard to India, great advantages might be obtained by the adoption of new systems. The English who are here, assure me that England derives nothing from India in the balance of her trade : the expenses swallow up or even exceed the profits. It is therefore merely a source of individual advantage, and of a few private fortunes of colossal magnitude ; but these are so much food for ministerial patronage, and therefore good care is taken not to meddle with them. Those nabobs, as they are styled, on their return to England, are useful recruits to the aristocracy. It signifies not that they bear the disgrace of having acquired fortunes by rapine and plunder, or that they exercise a baneful influence on public morals by exciting in others the wish to gain the same wealth by the same means : the present ministers are not so scrupulous as to bestow a thought on such matters. These men give them their votes ; and the more corrupt they are, the more easily are they controlled. In this state of things, where is the hope of reform ? Thus, on the least proposition of amendment, what an outcry is raised ! The English aristocracy is daily taking a stride in advance ; but as soon as there is any proposal for retrograding, were it only for the space of an inch, a general explosion takes place. If the minutest details be touched, the whole edifice begins to totter. This is very natural. If you attempt to deprive a glutton of his mouthful, he will defend himself like a hero.”
On another occasion the Emperor said :—
“ After a twenty years’ war, after the blood and treasures that were lavished in the common cause, after a triumph beyond all hope, what sort of peace has England concluded ? Lord Castlereagh had the whole Continent at his disposal, and yet what advantage, what indemnity has he secured to his own country ? He has signed just such a peace as he would have signed had he been conquered. I should not have required him to make greater sacrifices had I been victorious. But, perhaps, England thought herself sufficiently happy in having effected my overthrow ; ... in that case, hatred has avenged me ! During our contest, England was animated by two powerful sentiments ; her national interest and her hatred of me. In the moment of triumph, the violence of the one caused her to lose sight of the other. She has paid dearly for that moment of passion ! ”
He developed his idea, glancing at the different measures which skewed the errors committed by Castlereagh, and the many advantages he had neglected.
“ Thousands of years will roll away,” said he, “ before there occurs such another opportunity of securing the welfare and real glory of England. Was it ignorance, or corruption, on the part of Castlereagh ? He distributed the spoil generously, as he seemed to think, among the Sovereigns of the Continent, and reserved nothing for his own country ; but, in so doing, did he not fear the reproach of being considered as the agent rather than the partner of the Holy Allies ? He gave away immense territories ; Russia, Prussia, and Austria acquired millions of population. Where is the equivalent to England ? She, who was the soul of all this success, and who paid so dearly for it, now reaps the fruit of the gratitude of the Continent, and of the errors or treachery of her negotiator. My continental system is continued ; and the produce of her manufactures is excluded. Why not have edged round the Continent with free and independent maritime towns, such, for example, as Dantzic, Hamburgh, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Genoa, &c. which would of necessity have become the staples of her manufactures, and would have scattered them over Europe, in spite of all the duties in the world. England possessed the right of doing this, and her circumstances required it ; her decisions would have been just, and who would have opposed them at the moment of the liberation ? Why did she create to herself a difficulty, and in course of time a natural enemy, by uniting Belgium to Holland, in stead of securing two immense resources for her trade, by keeping them separate ? Holland, which has no manufactures of her own, would have been the natural depôt for English goods ; and Belgium, which might have become an English colony governed by an English Prince, would have been the channel for dispersing these goods over France and Germany. Why not have bound down Spain and Portugal by a commercial treaty of long duration, which would have repaid all the expenses incurred for their deliverance, and which might have been obtained under pain of the enfranchisement of their colonies, the trade of which, in either case, England would have commanded ? Why not have stipulated for some advantages in the Baltic and the States of Italy ? These would have been but the regular privileges attached to the dominion of the seas. After so long a contest in support of this right, how happened its advantages to be neglected at the moment when it was really secured ? Did England, while she sanctioned usurpation in others, fear that any opposition would have been offered to hers ? and by whom could it have been offered ? Probably England repents now, when it is too late ; the opportunity cannot be recovered ; she suffered the favourable moment to escape her ! ... How many whys and wherefores might I not multiply ! .... None but Lord Castlereagh would have acted thus : he made himself the man of the Holy Alliance, and in course of time he will be the object of execration. The Landerdales, the Grenvilles, and the Wellesleys, would have pursued a very different course ; they would at least have acted like Englishmen.”
At another time the Emperor said :—
“ The national debt is the worm that preys on England ; it is the chain of all her difficulties. It occasions the enormity of taxation, and this in its turn raises the price of provisions. Hence the distress of the people, the high price of labour and of manufactured articles, which are not disposed of with equal advantage in the continental markets. England then ought at all hazards to contend against this devouring monster ; she should assail it on all sides, and at once subdue it negatively and positively, that is to say, by the reduction of her expenditure and the increase of her capital.
“ Can she not reduce the interest of her debt, the high salaries, the sinecures, and the various expenses attending her army establishment, and renounce the latter, in order to confine herself to her navy. In short, many things might be done which I cannot now enter into. With regard to the increase of her capital, can she not enrich herself with the ecclesiastical property, which is immense, and which she would acquire by a salutary reform, and by the extinction of titular dignities which would give offence to no one. But if a word be uttered on this subject, the whole aristocracy is up in arms, and succeeds in putting down the opposition, for in England it is the aristocracy that governs, and for which the Government acts. They repeat the favourite adage, that if the least stone of the old foundation be touched, the whole fabric will fall to the ground. This is devoutly re-echoed by the multitude ; consequently reform is stopped, and abuses are suffered to increase and multiply.
“ It is but just to acknowledge that in spite of a compound of odious, antiquated, and mean details, the English constitution presents the singular phenomenon of a happy and grand result ; and the advantages arising out of it secure the attachment of the multitude, who are fearful of losing any of the blessings they enjoy. But is it to the objectionable nature of the details that this result must be attributed ? On the contrary, it would shine with increased lustre if the grand and beautiful machine were freed from its mischievous appendages.
“ England,” continued the Emperor, “ presents an example of the dangerous effects of the borrowing system. I would never listen to any hints for the adoption of that system in France ; I was always a firm opposer of it. It was said at the time, that I contracted no loans for want of credit, and because I could find no one willing to lend ; but this was false. Those who know any thing of mankind and the spirit of stock-jobbing, will be convinced that loans may always be raised by holding out the chance of gain and the attraction of speculation. But this was no part of my system, and by a special law, I fixed the amount of the public debt at what had generally been supposed to be conducive to the general prosperity, namely, at eighty millions for France in her utmost extent, and after the union with Holland, which in itself produced an augmentation of twenty millions. This sum was reasonable and proper ; a greater one would have been attended by mischievous consequences. What was the result of this system ? What resources have I left behind me ? France, after so many gigantic efforts and terrible disasters, is now more prosperous than ever ! Her finances are the first in Europe ! To whom and to what are these advantages to be attributed ? So far was I from wishing to swallow up the future, that I had resolved to leave a treasury behind me. I had even formed one, the funds of which I lent to different banking-houses, embarrassed families, and the individuals who were about my person.
“ I should not only have carefully preserved the sinking fund, but I calculated on having, in course of time, surpluses which would have been constantly increasing, and which might have been actively applied for the furtherance of public works and improvements. I should have had the fund of the Empire for general works ; the fund of the departments for local works, and the fund of the communes for municipal works, &c.”
In the course of another conversation, the Emperor observed :—
“ England is said to traffic in every thing : why, then, does she not sell liberty, for which she might get a high price, and without any fear of exhausting her own stock ; for modern liberty is essentially moral, and does not betray its engagements. For example, what would not the poor Spaniards give her to free them from the yoke to which they have been again subjected ? I am confident they would willingly pay any price to recover their freedom. It was I who inspired them with this sentiment ; and the error into which I fell, might, at least, be turned to good account by another government. As to the Italians, I have planted in their hearts principles that never can be rooted out. What can England do better than to promote and assist the noble impulses of modern regeneration ? Sooner or later, this regeneration must be accomplished. Sovereigns and old aristocratic institutions may exert their efforts to oppose it, but in vain. They are dooming themselves to the punishment of Sisyphus ; but, sooner or later, some arm will tire of resistance, and then the whole system will fall to nothing. Would it not be better to yield with a good grace ?—this was my intention. Why does England refuse to avail herself of the glory and advantage she might derive from this course of proceeding ? Every thing passes away in England as well as elsewhere. Castlereagh’s administration will pass away, and that which may succeed it, and which is doomed to inherit the fruit of so many errors, may become great by only discontinuing the system that has hitherto been pursued. He who may happen to be placed at the head of the English cabinet, has merely to allow things to take their course, and to obey the winds that blow. By becoming the leader of liberal principles, instead of leaguing with absolute power, like Castlereagh, he will render himself the object of universal benediction, and England will forget her wrongs. Fox was capable of so acting, but Pitt was not : the reason is, that, in Fox, the heart warmed the genius ; while, in Pitt, the genius withered the heart. But it may be asked, why I, all-powerful as I was, did not pursue the course I have here traced out ?—how, since I can speak so well, I could have acted so ill ? I reply to those who make this inquiry with sincerity, that there is no comparison between my situation and that of the English government. England may work on a soil which extends to the very bowels of the earth ; while I could labour only on a sandy surface. England reigns over an established order of things ; while I had to take upon myself the great charge, the immense difficulty of consolidating and establishing. I purified a revolution, in spite of hostile factions. I combined together all the scattered benefits that could be preserved ; but I was obliged to protect them with a nervous arm, against the attacks of all parties ; and in this situation it may truly be said, that the public interest, the State, was myself.
“ Our principles were attacked from without ; and in the name of these very principles, I was assailed in the opposite sense at home. Had I relaxed but ever so little, we should soon have been brought back to the time of the Directory ; I should have been the object, and France the infallible victim, of a counter Brumaire. We are in our nature so restless and inconsiderate ! If twenty revolutions were to ensue, we should have twenty constitutions. This is one of the subjects that are studied most, and observed the least. We have much need to grow older in this great and glorious path ; for here our great men have all shewn themselves to be mere children. May the present generation profit by the faults that have hitherto been committed, and prove as wise as it is enthusiastic !”
30th.—Whenever the Emperor took up a subject, if he was in the least animated, his language was fit to be printed. He has often, when an idea struck him forcibly, dictated to any one of us that happened to be in his way, pages which, at the first throw, were of the finest diction. The other gentlemen of his suite must possess a great many of these dictations, which are all most invaluable. Unfortunately for me, the weak state of my eyes, which prevented me from writing, most frequently deprived me of this advantage.
On one occasion, when the English ministerial newspaper spoke of the large treasures which Napoleon must possess, and which he, no doubt, concealed, the Emperor dictated as follows :
“ You wish to know the treasures of Napoleon ? They are immense, it is true, but they are all exposed to light. They are : The noble harbours of Antwerp and Flushing, which are capable of containing the largest fleets, and of protecting them against the ice from the sea,—the hydraulic works at Dunkirk, Havre, and Nice,—the immense harbour of Cherburg,—the maritime works at Venice,—the beautiful roads from Antwerp to Amsterdam ; from Mentz to Metz ; from Bordeaux to Bayonne ;— the passes of the Simplon, of Mount Cenis, of Mount Geneve, of the Corniche, which open a communication through the Alps in four different directions ; and which exceed in grandeur, in boldness, and in skill of execution, all the works of the Romans ; in that alone you will find eight hundred millions ;— the roads from the Pyrenees to the Alps, from Parma to Spezia, from Savona to Piedmont,—the bridges of Jena, Austerlitz, Des Arts, Sevres, Tours, Rouanne, Lyons, Turin, of the Isere, of the Durance, of Bordeaux, Rouen, &c.—the canal which connects the Rhine with the Rhone by the Doubs, and thus unites the North sea with the Mediterranean ; the canal which connects the Scheldt with the Somme, and thus joins Paris and Amsterdam ; the canal which unites the Rance to the Vilaine ; the canal of Arles, that of Pavia, and the canal of the Rhine,—the draining of the marshes of Burgoine, of the Cotentin, of Rochfort,—the rebuilding of the greater number of the churches destroyed during the Revolution,—the building of others,—the institution of numerous establishments of industry for the suppression of mendicity,—the building at the Louvre,—the construction of public warehouses, of the Bank, of the canal of the Ourcq,—the distribution of water in the city of Paris,—the numerous drains, the quays, the embellishments and the monuments of that large capital,—the works for the embellishment of Rome,—the re-establishment of the manufactures of Lyons,—the creation of many hundreds of manufactories of cotton, for spinning and for weaving, which employ several millions of workmen,—funds accumulated to establish upwards of 400 manufactories of sugar from beet-roots, for the consumption of part of France, and which would have furnished sugar at the same price as the West Indies, if they had continued to receive encouragement for only four years longer,—the substitution of woad for indigo, which would have been at last brought to a state of perfection in France, and obtained as good and as cheap as the indigo from the Colonies,—numerous manufactories for all kinds of objects of art, &c.—fifty millions expended in repairing and beautifying the palaces belonging to the Crown,—sixty millions in furniture for the palaces belonging to the Crown in France, and in Holland, at Turin, and at Rome—sixty millions of diamonds for the Crown, all purchased with Napoleon’s money—the Regent (the only diamond that was it left belonging to the former diamonds of the Crown) withdrawn from the hands of the Jews at Berlin, in whose hands it had been left as a pledge for three millions. The Napoleon Museum, valued at upwards of 400,000,000, filled with objects legitimately acquired, either by money or treaties of peace known to the whole world, by virtue of which the chefs d’ouvres it contains were given in lieu of territory or of contributions. Several millions amassed to be applied to the encouragement of agriculture, which is the paramount consideration for the interest of France ; the introduction in France of Merino sheep, &c. these form a treasure of several thousand millions which will endure for ages ! these are the monuments that will confute calumny !
“ History will say that all these things were accomplished in the midst of perpetual wars, without having recourse to any loan, and whilst the national debt was even diminishing every day, and that nearly fifty millions of taxes had been remitted. Very large sums still remained in his private treasure ; they were guarantied to him by the treaty of Fontainbleau as the result of the savings effected on his civil list and of his other private revenues : these sums were divided and did not go entirely into the public treasury, nor altogether into the treasury of France !!”