XIII. 1808. September. no small advantage. They will be beaten, said CHAP. M. Champagny, destroyed, dispersed, or, at least, they will make haste to fly, as they did at Toulon, at the Helder, at Dunkirk, in Sweden,.. wherever the French armies have been able to find them! But their expulsion from Spain would be the ruin of their cause; it would exhaust their means, and annihilate their last hope. In this contest the wishes of all Europe would be with France! the war These reports, with the two mock treaties of Report of Bayonne, were laid before the Senate, and, at minister. the same time, a report of the war-minister was presented. France, it was said, had never possessed more numerous or better appointed armies, neither were they ever better kept up, or better provisioned. Nevertheless, the events which had taken place in Spain had occasioned a pretty considerable loss, in consequence of an operation, not less inconceivable than painful, of the division under General Dupont. His Majesty had notified his resolution of assembling more than 200,000 men beyond the Pyrenees, without weakening either the armies in Germany or that in Dalmatia. A levy of 80,000 was therefore indispensable, and these could only be taken from the four classes of the conscription of the years 1806, 7, 8, and 9, which, exclusive of the men who had married within those years, might furnish 600,000. In levying 80,000, only one conscript out of seven would be called out, and the vacancies in the armies would thus be filled up with soldiers of 21, 22, and 23 years of age, XIII. 1808. September. CHAP. that is, with men fit to undergo the fatigues of war. "It is true, Sire," said the war-minister, "that the custom observed of late years might, to a certain degree, induce a part of your subjects to consider themselves released from the duty of the conscription, as soon as they had furnished the contingent required for the year; and, under this point of view, what I propose might appear to require from your people a sacrifice. But, Sire, there is no one but knows, that, by the words of the law, your Majesty would be authorised to call to your standard the whole of the conscription, not only of the last four years, but even of the antecedent years: and even were there question of a real sacrifice, what sacrifice is it that your Majesty has not a right to expect from the love of your subjects? Who among us is ignorant that your Majesty wholly sacrifices yourself for the happiness of France, and that upon the speedy accomplishment of your high designs depend the repose of the world, the future safety, and the re-establishment of a maritime peace, without which France can never enjoy tranquillity? In proposing to your Majesty to declare, that henceforth no retrospective call shall take an antecedent conscription, I only participate, Sire, in your paternal wishes. I think it expedient, at the same time, to propose to your Majesty to order out the conscription of the year 1810, determining the amount of it, from the present instant, at 80,000 men.. to furnish the means, as occasion may XIII. 1808. require, of forming camps of reserve, and of CHAP. protecting the coast in the spring time. This conscription would be raised only under the apprehension of a war with other powers, nor would it be called out before the month of January next." September. Thus, then, it appeared that those persons who had escaped from the conscriptions of four years were again to stand the hazard of this dreadful lottery, and that of the unmarried men, between the ages of 21 and 23, one in seven was to be sent to the armies!.. and this draught upon the morality, the happiness, the vital strength, the flesh and blood of the French people.. was required, because their Corsican master had thought proper to appoint his brother to be king of Spain! The promise that no retrospective conscription should again be called for, shows plainly what the feelings of the nation were at such a measure, when Buonaparte thought it necessary to soothe them, by declaring, that it was not to be repeated. This was not all: one year's conscription had already been anticipated, another year was to be levied in advance, and 80,000 men, whose services, by these baleful laws, were not due till 1810, were now to be called forth. This was necessary, the report said, Suspicion of because England and Austria were increasing Austria. their armies; and it was an evil inseparable from the present state of Europe, that France must increase hers in the same proportion. A suspicion of the intentions of Austria was now intimated. the views of CHAP. XIII. 1808. September. Message from Buo naparte to the Senate. Sept. 4. Its armaments, the war-minister declared, had often excited his solicitude. He had been told by the minister for foreign affairs, that the best understanding prevailed with the court of Vienna; but though it did not belong to his department to dive into the views and interests of states, and explore the tortuous labyrinths of politics, it was his duty to neglect nothing for preserving to the French armies, at all points, that just superiority which they ought to possess. The plan which he had proposed would give the army of Spain. 200,000 men, without weakening the other armies; and the conscription of 1810 would increase the armies of Germany, of the North, and of Italy, by more than 80,000. From such a force what could be expected but the speedy reestablishment of tranquillity in Spain, of a maritime peace, and of that general tranquillity which was the object of the Emperor's wishes? Much blood would be spared, because so great a number of men would be ready to shed it... Here the tyrant's principle is right: and grievously was that parsimony of strength on the part of his mightiest enemy to be lamented, which, by never sending a force sufficient to insure its object, so often wasted what it sent. A message from Buonaparte accompanied these reports, when they were laid before the Senate. He mentioned his firm alliance with Russia, and said, that he had no doubts of the peace of the continent, but that he ought not to rely upon the false calculations and errors of other courts; XIII. 1808. September. and since his neighbours increased their armies, CHAP. it was a duty incumbent upon him to increase his: he therefore imposed fresh sacrifices upon his people, which were necessary to secure them from heavier, and to lead them to the grand result of a general peace. "I am determined," said he, "to carry on the war with Spain with the utmost activity, and to destroy the armies which England has disembarked in that country. The future security of my subjects, a maritime peace, and the security of commerce, equally depend upon these important operations. Frenchmen, my projects have but one object in view.. your happiness, and the permanent well-being of your children; and if I know you right, you will hasten to comply with this new call, which is rendered necessary by the interests of the country." measures. In the first of Buonaparte's three constitutions The Senate for France, the affectation of Roman titles, and approve his the false taste with which they were applied to offices essentially different, were equally to be remarked. The name of Senate, however, was well retained under his imperial government, just such a Senate having existed during those disgraceful ages of the Roman empire, when a despotism, similar to that which he had established in France, was degrading their country, and preparing the way for the universal barbarism and misery which ensued. The baseness of those wretches who sanctioned the iniquities and cruelties of Tiberius and Caligula was equalled by the VOL. II. B B |