The National Register.
London, England, 1808-04-03 00:00:00

SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1808.

co. 14.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION,

NUMBER FOURTEEN.

ON THE ESTABLISHIIENT OF A HEREDITARY

NOBILITY IN FRAINCL.

We have at length arrived at the concluding chapter of
that awful lesson which the French Revolution has pub-
lished to the world. We now learn how weakly the efforts
of man are adapted to his objects* and how naturally the
band of Providence can produce the greatest events, by
the very means which appear to forbid them !
France, oppressed and enslaved, wes roused but twenty
years ago from the sluggish subinisaion with which sl•e had
endured her thraldom, and, starting with a sudden impulse,
hulled furiously on the rulers who had trampled on her
lights. But instead of establishing a constitution where
Mutual and inherent Checks might ensure the good order
of her government, she rushed into an opposite and wild
extreme* madly hoping to ensure her peace by the subver.,
sion of her laws, to bless her people by the despot►sm of
her demagogues, and to • confirm her honour by the de-
. strnetion of her King and her Nobility. Europe trembled
to its centre ; and not a single throne among its hundred
dynasties stood uncenseieus of the mighty shock. Monarchs
were taught to distrust their heaven-commissioned powers,
and the rights of man were dreadfully asserted in the suf-
ferings of humanity. Justness of principle was darkened
by atrocities of practice : honourable independence dege-
nerated into brutal ferocity—and this unaccountable mix-
ture of magnanimity and folly* of glory and disgrace, af-
fording to the nations an example at once admirable and
detestable, terrified the weak* and confounded the wise I
Who that had a heart to feel for the dcgradatioa of human
nature, could refuse to hail the shout of triumph which
France, in the first emotion of her rising liberty, sent forth
to all the Empires of Europe P Who could deny a blessii:g
to the infant efforts of a great nation, emancipating the
bulk of her population front the tyranny of needy oppres-
sors, and vindicating the sacred privileges of freedom that
Are given by Nature and by Cod ! Wi:o was so insensi-
ble as not to rejoice that some bold arm had undertaken
the demolition of that system which had pampered the
Nobles, till they rose, like over-hanging trees that check
•egetation and exclude the common benefits of light and
heat from the humbler shrubs that grow beneath them
Yet who, that understood the real nature of human go-
ternmeuts, could refrain from expressions of disgust and
despair, when the reform of particular abuses became
the ruin of all civil institutions, and the freedom of the
subject was purchased by the slaughter of the sovereign :
when every thing that for centuries had been deemed
. noble, honourable, and great, was swept away in one
.nndiscrnninating extermination ; when virtue was pu-
nished for its connection with nobility., merely because
nobility had required punishment for its connection with
Niip, Xi'', Va. I.

. •

•
•

.y .

8.3.L..Mil

vice : when all the customs of society, all the charities of
the human heart, were sacrificed to the ambition of wit:z.ed
adventurers, and the spirit of virtue was extingttished with
the hope of reward ; when the smiling. plains of France,
on which the day-star of Liberty hall so brightly dawned,
became one vast and desolat:d •silderness, whern the he...
rizon was overclouded by the darkness Of a new despotism,
where the pour were nut satisfied; and r,eacinesi found
no repose !

But the faults, the follies, and the mories of the tn‘eigh„
titude. have alww: been productive of advantage to the
few : and among the generals and statesmen who rose amid
the misfortunes of their country; appeared one tekteer of a
genius proudly pre,einioent, who made Morality a shadow,
and used the glories of all former conquerors but us a con-
trast ; danger was his stepping stone, and anarchy was iris
path •of power. With rapid strides he advanced amid the
tumult-of his time i and now, Emperor of France, and
arhitor of a host of Princesi he triumphs in his ow*
security, and wields.thdempire of the World I
When we view these strange and sublime events, when
we contemplate a nation which plunged into liberty only
to be dashed once more upon the strand of despotism,
when we trace the steps of a ruler who rose by repub4
licanism to a throne, and aided the suppression of a stub-
born aristocracy, that he might erect a Nobility Whom
he could mould, we are struck at once with a con-
tempt and an admiration of human nature.--France,
after seas of blood have flowed over her 'fields, to
moisten the newly-struck roots that sere shooting from
her tree of liberty, has submitted once more to arbitrary
powers and lost every trace of her popular independence.
A new Nobility is established, which is boun'l to the Eni,
poor by the remembrance of a partnership in dangers
pasts by the hope of participation in honours to come, by
the cereainty of enjoylnent in the distinctions and property
already: possessed. Nobles, endowed with titles, that are
destined to last but for their lives, might have found a mo-
tive for rebellion }nit desire of security ;at present all :s
secured by the Emperor's constitution, anti the ettiperor's
constitution itself becomes the more secure. The govern-
ment of his annexed dominions is already settled;
.aveiy
day contributes to its conficination. The death of his fa,
vourites at home will create no confusion : I;st the suc-
cession to their titles and fortunes is fixed to their heirs.
Bonavarte himself stands on high, the centre of govern-
ment, the dispenser of fortune and honour, the cause at
once of his country's greatness, and of her slavery. One
thing only is wanting to perpetuate his Empire : and that
one thing iss the freedom of his subjects. The French peo-
ple should share in the legislative power, and each annexed
doitlin should send its representatives to the deliberatoo
councils of e Metropolitan state. .Then France mlght
•
,be happy, her Ruler powerful : now., the people are, ip- ..s- : -
deed, more powerful abroad, but as-tnuch enslaved at burgs
asig tits days of their Kings. They wake, • and thiukthat „kt
•
• itiV, "

141111101 b. ,

;`~►:

ZW•,...14.:::
.7:.i.::.

4Sj.

_