Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 7.djvu/216

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS government. The duration of the Roman Empire was no longer than that of the Roman Republic; while internecine troubles became greater, crimes more multiplied. The pride of republicanism, the heroism, and the masculine virtues were replaced by the most ridiculous vanity, the vilest adulation, the boldest cupidity, the most absolute indifference to national prosperity. Where was found any remedy in the heredity of the throne? Was it not regarded as the legitimate heritage of the house of Augustus? Was a Domitian not the son of Vespasian, a Caligula the son of Germanicus, a Commodus the son of Marcus Aurelius?

In France, it is true, the last dynasty maintained itself for eight hundred years, but were the people any the less oppressed? What were not the internal dissensions? What the foreign wars undertaken for pretensions and rights of succession, and which gave birth to the alliances of this dynasty with foreign nations? From the moment that a nation espouses the particular interests of one family, she is compelled to intervene in a multitude of matters which but for this would be to her a matter of utmost indifference. We have hardly succeeded in establishing a Republic among us, notwithstanding that we have tried it under various forms, more or less democratic.

After the Peace of Amiens, Napoleon had choice between the republican and monarchical systems; he could do as he pleased, and he would