The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-17 00:00:00

Si THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

greater portion of his subordinate kingdoms, Bonaparte has
divided among his own brothers, and the near relatives of his
family, thus adding the ties of blood to all other.boadh of cons
neetion, in the hopes that the House of Napoleon will not forget
ttkir common origin, or cease to reverence the intentions of their

ft suuder.
In addition to these precautions he has adopted another,
tsvhich chews a still deeper political sagacity, and a mind capa-
ble of overlooking inferior cons;derations ill.puraiit of its grand
'ultimate ohjects. Several possessors of great empires have, at
their deaths, apportioned their territoriesamong their principal
followers, and left in legacies what they could no longer retain
themseleei. The conduct of Bonaparte is •rry different.
Be has formed a plan of empire in which his great usurpations
cud conquests are not to be confined to the grasp of one over-
grown monarch, bat to be divided among many for the security
of the whole. Instead of retainin; all these possessions iu his
own bands during his life, and parcelling them out only in his
last will, as a man of impolitic ambition would have done,
he has had the magnanimity and wisdom to distribute them
during his lifetime, and while he may still look forward to
litany days of health and vi ;;our. rlen his favourite kingdom
of Italy he has lately disjoined from the central Covermpeut of
France, and formally con3igned it to his step-son, Eugene
Beauharnois.
The increased chance of stability which his new empire de-
rives front this mode of proceeding, very great. It prevents
all contests among his followers, with regard to their shares in
the distribution : it prevents the :•ncce:,sor to the metropolitan
government of France from retaining the dependencies in his
own hands, whirls he might well do under various pretexts, were
they to be given away only in consequence of the provisions of
a will : it enables the subordinate princes to p't acquainted w ith
the fuoctioos of government, the dispit:•itions, and the interests
of the country committed to their charge, anti by this means
consolidates their power. It accustoms them to perform with
exactness, all the stipulations so t tendant on their connect ion w ith
France, and thus consolidates the 'whole empire : in short, it
obviates the chance of any confusienain the death of Bonaparte,
since every thing will have already been established in the
order in which it is destined to continue.
In addition to this very politic measure, Bonaparte has
adopted another, which may ultimately prove not less effica-
cious :—the extension of the Napoleon Code over his whole
empire. This code may, its general, notwithstanding its de-
fects, he considered as a very great blessing to the people of
most of the countries which he has conquered, since they still
labour under the miserably unequal aml oppressive regulations
of feudalism. It is needless to dwell on the vast eirects which
the same laws, and the same administration of justice have in 1
binding communities together.
Such is the plan of the Empire of the West, and such the
Means Edopted i:s founder, to render it permanent. It can-
not be questioned that the idea is magnificeat, and that more
political sagacity is displayed is the provisions, than we can dis-
eovet in the foundation of any other great empire Yet, we
shall shortly state circumstances in its structure, which seem in-
timpatible with any great degree of permanency.
History presents us with many instances of a cluster of small
republics confederating together, and remaining united for a
great series of years. The ancient confederations of Greece
the Achean Leagne, the Se ins Cantons, the United States oir
holland, the provinces of North America, all afford striking
proofs of the possibility of giving permanency to such asitacia-

tappi. History affords no such e•amp)es of a confederatiox of
arbitary priuces attaining any degree of Ftability. The sa-
tr►ps pf though merely (officer*, were in perpetual re-

hellion agaiiist their sovereign : the same may be said of -tire

governors of provinces in Modern Turley ; and Uwe is not

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