paid—and entrusted with such a complete
delegation of power that, in Napoleon’s own language,
each was in his department an Empereur a petit
pied. Each of these officers had under his
entire control inferior local magistrates, holding
power from him as he did from the Emperor: each
had his instructions direct from Paris; each was bound
by every motive of interest to serve, to the utmost
of his ability, the government from which all things
were derived, to be hoped for, and to be dreaded.
Wherever the Emperor was, in the midst of his hottest
campaigns, he examined the details of administration
at home more closely than, perhaps, any other sovereign
of half so great an empire did during the profoundest
peace. It was said of him that his dearest amusement,
when he had nothing else to do, was to solve problems
in algebra or geometry. He carried this passion
into every department of affairs; and having, with
his own eye, detected some errors of importance in
the public accounts, shortly after his administration
began, there prevailed thenceforth in all the financial
records of the state such clearness and accuracy as
are not often exemplified in those of a large private
fortune. Nothing was below his attention, and
he found time for everything. The humblest functionary
discharged his duty under a lively sense of the Emperor’s
personal superintendence; and the omnipresence of
his police came in lieu, wherever politics were not
touched upon, of the guarding powers of a free press,
a free senate, and public opinion. Except in
political cases the trial by jury was the right of
every citizen. The Code Napoleon, that
elaborate system of jurisprudence, in the formation
of which the Emperor laboured personally along with
the most eminent lawyers and enlightened men of the
time, was a boon of inestimable value to France.
“I shall go down to posterity” (said he,
with just pride) “with the Code in my hand.”
It was the first uniform system of laws which the
French Monarchy had ever possessed: and being
drawn up with consummate skill and wisdom, it at this
day forms the code not only of France, but of a great
portion of Europe besides. Justice, as between
man and man, was administered on sound and fixed principles,
and by unimpeached tribunals. The arbitrary Commission
Courts of Napoleon interfered with nothing but offences,
real or alleged, against his authority.
The Clergy were, as we have seen, appointed universally under the direction of Government: they were also its direct stipendiaries; hence nothing could be more complete than their subjection to its pleasure. Education became a part of the regular business of the state; all the schools and colleges being placed under the immediate care of one of Napoleon’s ministers—all prizes and bursaries bestowed by the government—and the whole system so arranged, that it was hardly possible for any youth who exhibited remarkable talents to avoid the temptations to a military career, which on every side surrounded