[Footnote 163:  In other respects also Bonaparte’s influence was used to depress the legal status of woman, which the men of 1789 had done so much to raise.  In his curious letter of May 15th, 1807, on the Institution at Ecouen, we have his ideas on a sound, useful education for girls:  “...  We must begin with religion in all its severity.  Do not admit any modification of this.  Religion is very important in a girls’ public school:  it is the surest guarantee for mothers and husbands.  We must train up believers, not reasoners.  The weakness of women’s brains, the unsteadiness of their ideas, their function in the social order, their need of constant resignation and of a kind of indulgent and easy charity—­all can only be attained by religion.”  They were to learn a little geography and history, but no foreign language; above all, to do plenty of needlework.]

[Footnote 164:  Sagnac, “Legislation civile de la Rev. Fr.,” p. 293.]

[Footnote 165:  Divorce was suppressed in 1816, but was re-established in 1884.]

[Footnote 166:  Sagnac, op. cit., p. 352.]

[Footnote 167:  “The Life of Sir S. Romilly,” vol. i., p. 408.]

[Footnote 168:  Madelin in his “Fouche,” ch. xi., shows how Bonaparte’s private police managed the affair.  Harel was afterwards promoted to the governorship of the Castle of Vincennes:  the four talkers, whom he and the police had lured on, were executed after the affair of Nivose.  That dextrous literary flatterer, the poet Fontanes, celebrated the “discovery” of the Arena plot by publishing anonymously a pamphlet ("A Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte”) in which he decided that no one but Caesar deserved the honour of a comparison with Bonaparte, and that certain destinies were summoning him to a yet higher title.  The pamphlet appeared under the patronage of Lucien Bonaparte, and so annoyed his brother that he soon despatched him on a diplomatic mission to Madrid as a punishment for his ill-timed suggestions.]

[Footnote 169:  Thibaudeau, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 55.  Miot de Melito, ch. xii.]

[Footnote 170:  It seems clear, from the evidence so frankly given by Cadoudal in his trial in 1804, as well as from his expressions when he heard of the affair of Nivose, that the hero of the Chouans had no part in the bomb affair.  He had returned to France, had empowered St. Rejant to buy arms and horses, “dont je me servirai plus tard”; and it seems certain that he intended to form a band of desperate men who were to waylay, kidnap, or kill the First Consul in open fight.  This plan was deferred by the bomb explosion for three years.  As soon as he heard of this event, he exclaimed:  “I’ll bet that it was that——­ St. Rejant.  He has upset all my plans.” (See “Georges Cadoudal,” par G. de Cadoudal.)]

[Footnote 171:  Roederer, “Oeuvres,” vol. iii., p. 352.  For these negotiations see Bowman’s “Preliminary Stages of the Peace of Amiens” (Toronto, 1899).]