Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/529

 Europe and Xapoleon 491 It became the mainstay of Bonaparte ; and it is due to him to say that he also believed it. The factions played into his hands by imprudent attempts which he turned to his own advantage. He had some grounds for his belief that he was necessary ; France believed it, too ; and he even suc- ceeded in persuading foreign sovereigns that he constituted a barrier against republican influences, which, but for him, might spread widely. At the moment when Bonaparte placed the imperial crown upon his head there was not a king in Europe who did not believe that he wore his own crown more securely because of that event. Had the new emperor granted a liberal constitution, the peace of nations and of kings might really have been forever secured. Five years after Bonaparte had become the head of the French government he sums up the general situa- tion in France in a statement which he laid before the Legislative Body, December 31, 1804. The internal situation of France is to-day as calm as it has ever been in the most peaceful periods. There is no agitation to disturb the public tranquillity, no suggestion of those crimes which recall the Revolution. Everywhere useful enterprises are in progress, and the general improve- ments, both public and private, attest the universal con- fidence and sense of security. . . . A plot conceived by an implacable government was about to replunge France into the abyss of civil war and anarchy. The discovery of this horrible crime stirred all France profoundly, and anxieties that had scarcely been calmed again awoke. Experience has taught that a divided power in the state is impotent and at odds with itself. It was generally felt that if power was delegated for short periods only it was so uncertain as to discourage any prolonged undertakings or wide-reaching plans. If vested in an indi- vidual for life, it would lapse with him, and after him would prove a source of anarchy and discord. It was clearly seen that for a great nation the only salvation lies in hereditary 431. Napo- leon's ac- count of the internal situation of France in 1804. (Much condensed.) Reasons for establishing an empire in place of the consulate.