005 La Vista de Napoleón de La Religión

University of Northern Iowa
Napoleon's Views of Religion Author(s): H. A. Taine Source: The North American Review, Vol. 152, No. 414 (May, 1891), pp. 567-581 Published by: University of Northern Iowa Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25102177 . Accessed: 03/09/2013 11:37
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VIEWSOF RELIGION. NAPOLEON'S

BY H. A. TAI1STE.
The church is a mighty social force, a distinct, permanent in influence of the highest order, and every political calculation which it is omitted, or in which it is treated as of little conse quence, is unsound. Every head of a state, therefore, who would estimate the vastness of this influence must consider its nature. I. This is what Napoleon does. As usual with him, in order to " see deeper into others, he begins by examining himself. To say I came, what I am, or where I am going, is above from whence I am the watch that runs, but unconscious my comprehension. of itself." These questions, which we are unable to answer, " drive us onward to religion; we rush forward to welcome her, comes and we for that is our natural tendency. But knowledge
stop short. Instruction and history, you see, are the great ene
mies of religion, disfigured of humanity. by the imperfections . . . I once had faith. But when I came to know something, as soon as I began to reason, which occurred early in life, at the age of thirteen, I found my faith attacked and that it staggered." This double personal conviction is an after-thought, when prepar " It is said that I am a Papist. I am nothing. ing the concordat. In Egypt I was a Mussulman for the ; here I shall be a Catholic, of the not I do believe in religions. The idea of a good " people. And then, pointing upward : " Who made all that ? " God ! The imagination has decorated this great name with its legends. Let us content ourselves with those already existing ; " the dis quietude of man is such that he cannot do without them ; in de fault of those already made he would fashion others, haphazard, and still more strange. The positive religions keep man from go ing astray ; it is these which render the supernatural definite and
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. . . precise ; he had better take it in there than elsewhere, in the stories at Mademoiselle Lenormand's, got up by every
adventurer, every charlatan, that comes along." An estab
lished religion
our love of
"is
a kind
of vaccination
us against
which,
quacks
in
satisfying
and sorcer
the marvellous,
guarantees
ers ; the priests are far better than the Cagliostros, Kants, and the In sum, illuminism and metaphys rest of the German mystics." inventions of the brain and the contagious ics, the speculative of the nerves, all the illusions of credulity, are un overexcitement Neverthe healthy in their essence, and, in general, anti-social. us as human to let them like so nature, less, accept they belong a in streams down that remain many tumbling they slope, except their own beds, and, in many of them, no new beds, and not in " I do not want a dominant religion, nor one bed alone by itself. The Catholic, Reformed, of new ones. and the establishment " Lutheran systems, established by the concordat, are sufficient. Their these one need not grope one's way in the unknown. With and their irruptions can be direction and force are intelligible, the present inclinations and config Moreover, guarded against. soil favor them; the child follows the of the human uration out by the parent, and the man follows the road road marked For instance : marked out by the child. " here at Malmaison, while alone Last Sunday, strolling in the solitude enjoying the repose of nature, my ear suddenly It affected me, the sound of the church bell at Ruel. caught I said so strong is the force of early habits and education! to myself, What an impression this must make on simple, credu " Let us gratify these ; let us give back these bells lous souls ! After and the rest to the Catholics. all, the general effect of " am concerned, as I I do not far As is salutary. Christianity but the mystery of social see in it the mystery of the incarnation, order, the association of religion with paradise, an idea of equality . . . which keeps the rich from being massacred by the poor. an an of and fortunes, inequality Society could not exist without man A of starva fortunes without of dying religion. inequality tion alongside of one who is surfeited would not yield to this dif assured him that ference unless he had some authority which be both poor and rich in the God so orders it, that there must the por eternity, world, but that in the future, and throughout tion of each will be changed."
NAPOLEON'S
VIEWS
OF RELIGION,
569
of the repressive exercised by the state police Alongside The clergy, there is a preventive police exercised by the church. much more in its cassock, is an additional spiritual gendarmerie, in its stout boots, while efficient than the temporal gendarmerie the essential thing is to make both keep step together in concert. that which belongs to civil Between the two domains, between to that is there and which belongs authority, authority religious see "I ? do to line not of where any boundary separation place I look in vain ; I see only chimerical. it; its existence is purely The civil government condemns clouds, obscurities, difficulties. a criminal and offers to death ; the priest gives him absolution In relation to this act both powers operate pub him paradise." one with the licly in an inverse sense on the same individual, As these authorities may guillotine and the other with a pardon. clash with each other, let us prevent conflicts and leave no unde let us trace this out beforehand fined frontier; ; let us indicate what our part is and not allow the church to encroach on the state. The church really wants all ; it is the accessory which she the principal concedes to us, while she appropriates to herself. " in sharing authority Mark the insolence of the priests who, with what they call the temporal power, reserve to themselves all action on the mind, the noblest part of man, and take it on them selves to reduce my part merely to physical action. They retain In antiquity, the soul and fling me the corpse !" things were much better done, and are still better done now in Mussulman " In the Roman republic, the senate was the inter countries. was this the of and of the force and heaven, preter mainspring In Turkey, and strength of that government. and throughout the Orient, the Koran serves as both a civil and religious bible. do we find the pontificate distinct from the Only in Christianity And even this has occurred only in one branch civil government." of Christianity. countries, "in except in Catholic Everywhere, in in the northern in one part of Russia, monarchies, England, the union of two the control powers, legal Germany, religious " in the hands of the sovereign," is an accomplished fact. One cannot govern without it; otherwise, the repose, dignity, and inde at every moment." It is a pendence of a nation are disturbed " the difficulty cannot be overcome as with Henry VIII. pity that in England. The head of the state would then, by legislative church," statute, be the supreme chief of the French
570
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France is not so disposed. often Unfortunately, Napoleon " tries to bring this about, but is satisfied that in this matter he
would never obtain national cooperation"; once "
the nation would have aban fully engaged in the enterprise, to take this road, he takes another, which doned him." Unable As he himself leads to the same result. afterwards states, this result "was, for a long time and always, the object of his wishes . . . It is not his aim to change the faith and meditations. of his people ; he respects spiritual objects and wants to rule them without meddling with them ; his aim is tomake these square with his views, but only through ivith his policy, the influence of should remain concerns." That authority temporal spiritual intact; that it should operate on its own speculative domain, that is to say, on dogmas, and on its practical domain, namely, on the sacraments and on worship ; that it should be sovereign on this lim ited territory, Napoleon admits, for such is the fact, and we have see our to to it. Right or wrong, spiritual authority is open eyes only verified loyalty of be recognized sovereign through the persistent,
lievers, obeyed, effective?in other words, a powerful force. It can
"
embarked,"
on the contrary, not be done away with by supposing it non-existent; a competent statesman will maintain it in order to make use of it Like an engineer who comes and apply it to civil purposes. near across a prolific his he does not try to spring manufactory, nor the be it let water and up, lost; he has no idea dry dispersed on the contrary, he collects it, of letting this remain inactive; digs channels for it, directs and economizes the flow, and renders In the Catholic Church, the water serviceable in his workshops. the authority to be won and utilized is that of the clergy over be " You will lievers and that of the sovereign pontiff over the clergy. exclaimed the while concordat, "how see," Bonaparte, negotiating " I will turn the priests to account, and, first of all, the Pope ! " " Had no Pope existed," he says again, it would have been as to create him for the the Roman consuls occasion, necessary He alone could created a dictator under difficult circumstances." effect the coup d'etat which the First Consul needed, in order a that he might constitute the new head of the government or refrac of to the Catholic Church, bring patron independent to sever the canonical cord which tory priests under subjection, bound the French clergy to its exiled superiors and to the old " to break the last thread by which the Bour order of things,
NAPOLEON'S bons still
VIEWS
OF RELIGION.
571
the country." with communicated "Fifty emigre now lead the French of in the pay England clergy. bishops must be got rid of, and to do this the influence Their or make is essential; he can dismiss of the Pope authority of them and un Should any them resign." prove obstinate from their to their refusal descend thrones, brings willing as rebels who pre them into discredit, and they are "designated their terrestrial interests fer the things of this world, to the The great body of interests of heaven and the cause of God." their flocks will abandon them ; they will the clergy along with soon be forgotten, like old sprouts transplanted whose roots have been cut off ; they will die abroad, one by one, while the succes the sor, who is now in office, will find no difficulty in rallying are so obedient around him, for, being Catholic, his parishioners taken with externals, and many sheep, docile, impressionable, it bears the ancient the to follow pastoral crook, provided ready
trademark, consists of the same material, is of the same form, is
The bishops from on high, and is sent from Rome. conferred save a Gregory once the consecrated been by Pope, nobody having or some antiquarian canonist will dispute their jurisdiction. is thus cleared through the inter ecclesiastical The ground The three groups of authorities thereon position of the Pope. which contend with each other for the possession of consciences? the apostolic vicars, and the con the refugee bishops in England, and now the cleared ground can be stitutional clergy?disappear, "The built on. Catholic that of the religion being declared French its now must of the services be people, majority regulated. The First Consul nominates fifty bishops whom the Pope conse
crates. These appoint the cures, and the state pays their salaries.
The latter may take the oath, while the priests who do not submit are sent out of the country. Those who preach against the gov ernment are handed over to their superiors for punishment. The of confirms the sale clerical he consecrates the ; Pope possessions no faithful The it askance. Republic." longer regard They are not feel that but protected tolerated, only they The people revere their churches, by it, and they are grateful. their cures, the forms of worship to which they are almost in the ceremonial which, to their imagina accustomed, stinctively tion, belongs to every important act of their lives, the solemn rites of marriage, baptism, burial, and other sacramental offices.
572 Henceforth
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is said every Sunday in each village, and the on their peasants enjoy processions Corpus-Christi day, when their A great public want is satisfied. Discontent crops are blessed. has fewer enemies ; its subsides, ill-will dies out, the government
enemies, again, lose their best weapon, and, at the same time, it
acquires an admirable one, the right of appointing bishops and of cures. the the concordat of and by order virtue By sanctioning of the Pope, not only, in 1801, do all former spiritual authorities cease to exist, but again, after 1801, all new titularies, with the
Pope's assent, chosen, accepted, managed, disciplined, and paid
by the First
functionaries.
Consul,
are, in fact, his
creatures,
and become
his
and real service obtained from Over and above this positive the sovereign pontiff, he awaits others yet more important and and future in his coronation Notre Dame. undefined, principally La Fayette the for the concordat, negotiations Already, during " You want the holy oil had observed to him with a smile : dropped on your head" ; to which he made no contradictory answer. On the contrary, he replied, and probably too with a " shall see !" Thus does he think shall see ! We smile : We ideas and his extend beyond that which a man belonging ahead, to the ancient regime could imagine or divine, even to the recon in the year struction of the empire of the west as this existed
800. "but (I am of not the successor ... of Louis I am XIV".," he soon declares, because, Charlemagne. Charlemagne,
crown with that of the I unite the French like Charlemagne, "Had I re and my empire borders on the Orient." Lombards, to exalt the intended I turned victorious from Moscow, Pope be and I surround with him deference. to pomp yond measure, him to no longer regretting his tempo would have brought He would have him an idol. rality ; I would have made Paris would have become the capital of lived alongside of me. and I would have governed the religious world the Christendom, ... I would have had my re same as the political world. as as well sessions ; my councils would have ligious legislative would the have been merely their ; Popes represented Christianity and closed these assemblies, have I would opened presidents. their decrees, as was done by Constan sanctified and published The Pope, as with the marshals and the tine and Charlemagne." new dukes, must have a landed income settled on him, consisting
NAPOLEON'S
VIEWS
OF RELIGION.
573
of "property in different parts of of the empire, two millions rural revenue free of all taxation." the must Necessarily Pope He is have two palaces, one at Paris and the other at Rome. in installed his all that Paris, person already nearly fully being was lacking. two hours off, he On arriving from Fontainebleau, to his office ; "the papers of the would find everything belonging " and the archives of Rome were already there." missions The of the court Hotel Dieu was entirely given up to the departments The district around Notre Dame and the He St. Louis of Rome. was to be the headquarters of Christendom." Rome, the second cen and the second residence of the Pope, is tre of Christendom, " an em of the and free the second declared city city, imperial is to pire "; a prince of the empire, or other grand dignitary, "After their reside there and "hold the court of the emperor." Dame at Paris, the em in the cathedral of Notre coronation " of before the their reign, and to tenth will go year perors Italy The heir to in the church of St. Peter at Rome." be "crowned the imperial throne "will bear the title and.receive the honors of the King the substantial features of this of Rome." Observe more far Italian than French, chimerical construction. Napoleon, Italian by race, by instinct, and considers souvenir, imagination, in his plan the future of Italy, and, on casting up the final ac counts of his reign, we find that the net profit is for Italy and the net loss is for France. Since Theodoric and the Lombard in the his and kings, Pope, preserving temporal sovereignty has the of maintained sub-divisions spiritual omnipotence, Italy; let this obstacle be removed and Italy will once more become a
nation. Napoleon prepares the way, and constitutes it before
hand by restoring the Pope to his primitive condition, by with from him his temporal and limiting his drawing sovereignty spiritual omnipotence, by reducing him to the position of manag consciences and head minister of the ing director of Catholic cult in authorized the empire. principal In carrying out this plan, he will use the French clergy in as use the the in master has been made of mastering Pope, Pope concor To the French this before the end, ing clergy. completing dat and decreeing the organic articles, he orders for himself a small library, consisting of books on ecclesiastical law. The are translated for him, and he has drawn Latin works of Bossuet of the Gallican doctrine. The up an exposition parliamentary
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first thing is to go down to the roots of the subject, which he does with extraordinary facility, and then, recasting and shaping the theories to suit himself, he arrives at an original, individual con
ception, at once coherent, precise, and practical; one which
the ground and which he applies alike to all churches, even and to every Lutheran, Calvinist, Catholic, Jewish, now in and time to come. So long religious community existing as belief remains silent and solitary, confined within the limits of it is free, and the state has nothing to do individual conscience, these limits, address the public, with it. But let it act outside a common purpose, manifest in crowds for together bring people it is subject to control; itself visibly, forms of worship, cere and propagandism, the donations instruction, monies, preaching, the assemblies it convenes, it provokes, the organization and of the bodies it engenders, all the positive applica maintenance In this sense, tions of the inward rosary, are temporal works. a come the and form of the within public domain, they province of the of the and of the administration, government competency The state has a right to interdict, courts. to tolerate, or to their activity at all times. authorize them, and to direct Sole of the outward realm in which single and universal proprietor
consciences may communicate with each other, it intervenes, step
covers
or to bar the way ; the road they follow by step, either to trace over and its belongs to it ; its watch, accordingly, ground passes and should be, daily ; and it maintains over their proceedings is, for the advantage of civil and this watch for its own advantage, a way that concern for the other world such in interests, political to matters which belong to may be serviceable and not prejudicial In short, and as a summary, the First Consul says, in this one. : " The people want a religion, and this a private conversation religion should be in the hands of the government!" II. A few months
selle Chameron,
after the publication

an opera-dancer, dies,
of the concordat,
and her friends
Mademoi
bear her
of St. Roch for interment. The cur6, the Church very rigid, "in a fit of ill-humor," refuses to officiate, and he shuts the doors of the church ; a crowd gathers, which shouts and remains to
launches threats at the cure ; an actor makes a speech to appease
NAPOLEON'S
VIEWS
OF RELIGION.
575
the tumult, and finally the coffin is borne off to the Church of Les Filles St. Thomas, where the cure, "familiar with the words of this of the gospel," performs the funeral service. Incidents kind disturb the tranquillity of the streets and denote a relaxation of administrative the government, discipline. Consequently in theology and canon doctor and calls the law, intervenes to account. First ecclesiastical The in an Consul, superior in the Moniteur, article the their haughtily gives clergy course and the that will be explains countersign pursued " of Paris them by their prelates. The Archbishop against orders the cure of St. Roch in into a retreat of three months, order that he may bear in mind the injunction of Jesus Christ to pray for one's enemies, and, made sensible of his duties by medi tation, may become aware that these superstitious customs, which degrade religion by their absurdities, have been done away with 18." Henceforth all by the concordat and the law of Germinal
priests and cures must be prudent, circumspect, obedient, and
reserved, for their spiritual superiors are so, and could not be Each prelate, posted in his diocese, otherwise. is maintained there in isolation ; a watch is kept on his correspondence ; he can communicate the Pope with the Min only through ister of Worship to act in concert with ; he has no right his colleagues all the general assemblies of the ; clergy,
all metropolitan councils, all annual synods, are suppressed.
has ceased to exist as one corps, The church of France its members, while from each other and detached carefully from their Roman head, are no longer united, but juxtaposed, confined to a circumscription like the prefect ; the bishop himself is simply an ecclesiastical prefect, a little less uncertain of his tenure of office ; undoubtedly his removal will not be effected by can but he be forced to send in his resignation. order, Thus, in his case, as well as for the prefect, his first care will be not to ex cite displeasure, and the next one, to please. To stand well at and with the minister the sovereign, is a positive court, with not only on personal grounds, but for the sake of command, Catholic seminary,
to insure
interests. To obtain scholarship for the pupils of his to appoint the teachers and the director that sent him,
the acceptance of his canons, cantonal cures, and his
for the priesthood, to exempt his sub-deacons from the to establish and to defray the expenses of the conscription, candidates
576 chapels
priest,
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with regular
REVIEW. with
the
to provide
services, and
parishes
with
the indispensable
requires
sacraments,
of favors, which favors cannot be enjoyed without manifestations obedience and zeal, and, more important still, without devotedness. a man. all this, he is himself Besides If Napoleon has it is on account selected him, of his intelligence, knowing what he is about, open to human motives, not too rigid and of too easy conscience; in the eyes of the master, the first of all titles has ever been a supposable, docile character, associated with to his person and system. attachment Moreover, with his candi the hold they give dates, he has always taken into consideration him through their weaknesses, their osten vanity, and necessities, tatious ways and expenditure, their love of money, titles, and pre cedence, their ambition, desire for promotion, enjoyment of credit, of of and the establishment of social right prestige, petitioning, He avails of all and finds himself these relationships. advantages that they answer his purpose. With the exception of three or four saints like Monseigneur d'Avran or Monseigneur Dessolles, whom he has inadvertently the bishops are con put with the episcopate, tent to be barons and the archbishops counts. They are glad to rank higher and higher in the Legion of Honor ; they loudly as sert, in praise of the new order of things, the honors and digni ties it confers on these or those prelates who have become members of the legislative corps or been made senators. Many of them re in the ceive secret pay for secret services, pecuniary incentives In total, Napoleon has shape of this or that sum in ready money. and remorse, nearly the whole with hesitation judged accurately; of his episcopal staff, Italian and French, sixty-six prelates out are open to "temporal of eighty, influences." They yield to even in his seductions and threats ; they accept or submit, his to final determination. spiritual matters, Moreover, among these dignitaries, nearly all of whom are and are generally honor at who well behave or, least, blameless, unscru is perfect, finds a few whose able, Napoleon servility an absolute individuals whatever for prince ready anything, pulous one accept could desire, like Bishops Bernier and De Pancemont, ing a reward of 30,000 francs and the other the sum of 50,000 for the francs for the vile part-they played in the negotiations or of concordat; miserly, brutal, cynic-like Maury, archbishop or an De like arch Pradt, Paris; sceptic intriguing, mercenary
NAPOLEON'S
VIEWS
OF RELIGION.
577
or an old imbecile, falling on his knees before bishop of Malines; the civil power, like Rousseau, bishop of Orleans, who indites a that the Pope is as free in his Savona letter declaring pastoral After that he 1806, Napoleon, prison as on his throne at Rome. may control men of greater suppleness, prefers to take his prelates of Versailles, who families?the from old noble frequenters a as and the not bestowed the by by gift prince regard episcopate the Pope, a lay favor reserved for younger sons, a present made to those around his person, on the understood by the sovereign condition that the partisan courtier who is promoted shall remain a courtier of the master. Henceforth nearly all his episcopal of the old race." recruits are derived from "members "Only
these," says Napoleon, "know how to serve well."
than could the first year the effect arrived at is better " said the First Consul to at the clergy," be expected. Look Roederer; "every day shows that in spite of themselves their de is increasing, and much beyond their votion to the government seen the pastoral declaration of Boisgelin, Have you anticipation. He of that the actual government Tours ? is the says archbishop of and thrones that God legitimate government, disposes kings as he pleases; that he adopts the chiefs whom the people prefer. You yourself could not have said that better." But, notwith standing that this is said in the pastoral letter, it is again said in is more important; the catechism. No ecclesiastical publication all Catholic children have to learn this by heart,* for the phrases Bossuet's they recite will be firmly fixed in their memories. but it may be improved,?there catechism is good enough, and admin is nothing that emulation, time, reflection, Bossuet teaches children istrative zeal cannot render perfect! From
"
" no These generalities," says Portalis, longer suffice. They do not give the proper tendency to the subject's submission. The on the of to centre conscience the Your is person popular object let us be precise, make appointments, Accordingly, Majesty." a great deal more The imperial catechism, and secure support. adds significant developments explicit than the royal catechism, : " We especially owe to to the old one, along with extra motives our Emperor, Napoleon the First, love, respect, obedience, fidel of service, and tributes ordained for the preservation ity, military . . . For God has raised him the empire and his throne. up "
vol. clii.?no. 414. 37
to respect
all
superiors,
pastors,
kings,
magistrates,
and
the
rest."
578
THE NORTH AMERICAN
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restore public worship for us in times of peril that he might and the holy religion of our fathers and be its protector." Every boy and girl in each parish recite this to the vicar or cure after ves of God and of the pers in their tiny voices as a commandment article of the creed. Meanwhile the church, as a supplementary officiating priest gravely comments on this article, already clear
enough, at every morning or evening service ; by order, he preaches
in behalf of the conscription and declares that it is a sin to try to to from be it, escape refractory ; by order, again, he reads the army bulletins giving accounts of the latest victories ;always by order, he letter of his bishop, a document author reads the last pastoral Not ized, inspired, and corrected by the police. only are the letters and public in bishops obliged to submit their pastoral not are to the structions ; only, by way of precaution, censorship on the to forbidden print anything except prefective presses, they but again, for still greater security, the bureau of public worship them what they must is constantly say. First of all, advising this must and must the be done, in what how laud ; they Emperor so that without or indiscretion terms, and with what epithets, mistake they may not meddle with politics, may not seem like a " You must indicated, and it is a difficult matter. praise the more in said Real, prefect of police, your pastoral letters," Emperor " " Tell me in what measure." I do not know," to a young bishop. ' was the reply. cannot be prescribed, it must Since the measure as regards is no difficulty There other be ample enough.
articles. party managed from above, may not pass for mouthpieces, is not
On every occasion the Paris bureaux take care to furnish each bishop with a ready-made draft of his forthcoming pastoral letter canvas on which the customary flowers of ecclesiastical ?the are It differs according to time to be embroidered. amplification In La Vendee and in the west, the prelates are to and place. " of perfidious Albion," and the odious machinations stigmatize to the which sub the to the faithful English persecutions explain When Russia is the enemy, the pastoral ject the Irish Catholics. also on the Russian letter must dwell on her being schismatic; as of the Pope. Inasmuch of the supremacy non-recognition are utterances of their the and their functionaries empire, bishops use of he makes acts belong to the Emperor. Consequently
them against all enemies, against each rival, rebel, or adversary,
NAPOLEON'S
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OF RELIGION.
579
and the Russians, and against the English against the Bourbons, finally against the Pope. this is the great and last to the Russian Similar expedition, throw of the dice, the decisive and most important of his ecclesi as the others are in political and in astical undertakings, military Just as, under his leadership, he forces coalition of the affairs. political and military powers of his Europe against the Czar,? of the Rhine, Holland, Switz Austria, Prussia, the Confederation . and even Spain,?so does erland, the kingdom of Italy, Naples, he force, under his lead, a coalition of all the spiritual authorities
of his empire against the Pope. He summons a council, con
that are available of in Italy sisting eighty-four bishops and in France. He takes it upon himself to drill them and make is suddenly dissolved Toward the end the council them march. it does not yield at once to the because scruples arise, because to bear on it, because its mass constitutes pressure brought its firmness, because its members, close to standing " side by all stand the Our life side, gether, longer. in is not the said Cardinal cask," good Maury; to make it "you will find it better in bottles." Accordingly, it must be filtered and clarified, so as to ready for bottling, get rid of the bad elements which disturb it and cause fermentation. are in prison, many have retired from Some of the opposition their dioceses, while the rest are brought to Paris and cunningly
worked upon, each member in turn, cautioned in a mess-room,
of Worship, tete-d-tete with the the Minister until all severally On the strength of this, the sign the formula of adhesion. council, purged and prepared, is summoned afresh to give its vote in one unique session ; through a remnant of sitting or standing, virtue it inserts a suspensive clause in the decree, apparently a Like the reservation, but the decree is still passed as ordered. foreign regiment in an army corps which, enlisted, forced into line, and goaded on with a sharp sword, serves, in spite of itself, against its legitimate prince, unwilling to march forward to the attack, at the last moment to fire in the air, so does it march meaning and fire its volley notwithstanding. on the other hand, treats the in the same Napoleon, Pope and like skill and brutality. with As with the Russian fashion, At the campaign, he has prepared himself for it long beforehand. outset there is an alliance, and he concedes great to advantages
580 the Pope

but these
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concessions are made
REVIEW. to them after his fall;

a mental reservation,
will
remain
with
only
with
to profit by the the instinctive feeling and predetermination an independent alliance, even to making sovereign, whom he re this cognizes as his equal, his subordinate and his tool. Hence the Pope is time, also, quarrels and war. His strategy against entire ecclesiastical studied admirable,?the beforehand, territory forces employed and the objective point selected, all disposable the victory is to be decisive, to where directed by fixed marches the conquest extended and the seat of the final dominion estab use of every kind of and simultaneous lished ; the successive
violence, seduction, and terror; calculation of
means?cunning,
and despair of the adversary ; at first the weariness, anxiety, menaces and constant disputes, and then flashes of lightning and of of that force thunder, every species brutality claps multiplied can command ; the states of the church in times of invaded and the Pope Rome soldiers, by occupied peace, surprised a year the Quirinal in the in taken Quirinal, by a besieged seized and carried off by post to the Pope nocturnal assault,
Savona lar and seclusion, there confined to as the a subject prisoner entreaties of state and almost manoeuvres in cellu of an
prefect who works upon him, of the physician who is a are sent thither, alone with paid spy, of the servile bishops who with his conscience, inquisitors relieving each other, contending as subtile and as keen as old-time tortures to moral subject so steady and persistent to tortures that he tortures, physical " no sinks, loses his head, longer sleeps and scarcely speaks," and even more than senile conditi falling into a senile condition, a mental alienation." state of tion?" Then, on issuing from this, the poor old man is again beset; finally, after waiting patiently at night, conducted for three years, he is once more brusquely over the entire road, with no repose or secretly and incognito once in a snowstorm at the ill, except stopping pity, though comes near dying, put back on he where Mont Cenis, hospice after twenty-four hours in his carriage, bent double by suffering and in constant pain, jolting over the pavement of the grand high where Na way until almost dead, he is landed at Fontainebleau, " In him to at to work have hand wishes upon. ready poleon " he is a lamb, an excellent, worthy man deed," he himself says, A ttte-d-tHe not ex I esteem and am very fond of." whom adroit
NAPOLEON'S
VIEWS
OF RELIGION.
581
pected may probably prove effective with this gentle, candid, and Pius VIL, who had never known ill-will, might be tender spirit. won by kindly treatment, by an air of filial respect, by caresses ; of Napoleon, the prestige of he may feel the personal ascendency the invasion of his genius, inex his presence and conversation, in the adaptation of ideas in argument, matchless haustible amiable and most the most to circumstances, of imperious and and comic stentorian interlocutors, mild, by turns, tragic the most and the most irresistible of sophists, of eloquent
fascinators, conquers who, him, and on meeting obtains a man the mastery. face to In face, effect, wins after him, see
for six days, Napoleon obtains by persuasion what Pius VII. obtain afar by constraint. signs the new on unaware himself that, good faith, regaining his surrounded by his cardinals, who inform him on the be attacked political situation, he will emerge from bewilderment, accuse his his him office, conscience, and, through publicly by self, humbly repent, and in two months withdraw his signature. tri Such, after 1812 and 1813, is the duration of Napoleon's umphs and the ephemeral result of his greatest military and eccle ing the Pope he could not concordat in freedom and
siastical achievements?Moskowa, Lutzen, Bautzen, and Dresden,
the council of 1811, and the concordat vastness of his genius may be, however
successful never is, his and success his attacks, can be, other never
of 1813. strong
the Whatever his will, however

and Great churches histori
sections against than temporary.
In vain does he strike, for ical and moral forces elude his grasp. their downfall gives them new life, and they rise beneath the blow. as with other powers, not only do his With Catholic institutions, efforts remain sterile, but what he accomplishes remains inverse to the end he has in view. He aims to subjugate the Pope, and he led the Pope on to omnipotence. He aims at the maintenance and strength of the Gallican spirit among the French clergy, and he caused the dominion of the ultramontane With extra spirit. ordinary energy and tenacity, with all his power, which was enor the systematic and constant of most mous, through application diverse and extreme measures, he labored for fifteen years to sunder the ties of the Catholic hierarchy, tear this to pieces, and, in sum, the final result of all is to bind them together faster and hasten their completion.
H. A. Taine.

005 La Vista de Napoleón de La Religión

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005 La Vista de Napoleón de La Religión

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University of Northern Iowa

VIEWSOF RELIGION. NAPOLEON'S

THE NORTH AMERICAN

THE NORTH AMERICAN

NAPOLEON'S bons still

THE NORTH AMERICAN mass

are, in fact, his

THE NORTH AMERICAN

after the publication

THE NORTH AMERICAN of his diocese,

THE NORTH AMERICAN

580 the Pope

THE NORTH AMERICAN as to the Czar, which

REVIEW. to them after his fall;

the Whatever his will, however

sections against than temporary.

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