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1802.] NAPOLEON 205 most of the usurpations of 1798, the Koman and Parthenopean Republics, and returns in the main to the arrangements of Campo Formio, a proof of moderation which must have led the cabinets to consider whether after all it might not be possible to find a modus vivendi with the Government of Brumaire. The Con- 2. By the Concordat he professed to close the religious cordat. var. In reality he crushed the national Gallican Church, which had been created by the Constitution Civile, and which had perhaps begun to take root, and restored the Papal Church, shorn of its endowments and dependent, so long as he lived, on the state. As part of the great pacifica tion, the Concordat was perhaps mainly a stroke of stage- effect, though its influence upon the later history of France has been great. For Bonaparte himself it was important as severing the clerical party from the Bourbons and attaching it to himself, as giving him through the clergy an influence over the peasantry, upon whom he depended for his armies, also as in some degree welding together through the ubiquitous influence of the clergy the different states which were already subject to his government. In negotiating it with Cardinal Consalvi, Bonaparte had recourse more than once to the vulgar fraud and knavery which earned for him the title of Jupiter-Scapin. Ireaty of 3. After the treaty of Lune ville, as after that of Campo A.miens. f orni i 0) England was left to fight France alone ; but Bonaparte had now a higher estimate than in 1798 of England s naval power. He was able, however, in 1801 to attack her in another way. By her conduct at Malta she had given offence to the czar Paul, and taking advant age of this Bonaparte was able to revive against her the armed neutrality of 1780. Not only Russia but Prussia was thus brought for the first time, along with Sweden and Denmark, into the French alliance, and the system of Tilsit was for the first time sketched out. But it lasted only for a moment. At the beginning of April the announcement of the murder of Paul and the bombard ment of Copenhagen by Nelson dissolved it. England and France were now alike disposed for peace, the former because she had lost the support of a European Coalition, the latter because she had lost all means of attack, and also because of Bonaparte s grand plan of pacification. In the summer Bonaparte s endeavours are confined to saving the French colony in Egypt from the English, and to snatching a little territory from England s ally Portugal by means of Spain. But Cairo capitulated to the English in June, in which month also Spain made peace with Portugal. Accordingly in October the preliminaries of London were signed, and the treaty of Amiens followed in March. The allies of France paid for her naval defeats, Spain losing Trinidad and Holland Ceylon ; but France, though she lost nothing, acquiesced by this treaty in the total failure of all her designs upon the East. The globe was now at peace, and thanked Bonaparte for it. The equilibrium which had been destroyed by the Revolution seemed at length to be restored. Meanwhile the legislative reconstruction of France proceeded rapidly. This is the glorious period of Bonaparte s life, not, as has often been alleged, because he was as yet uncorrupted by power, but simply because a strong intelligent Government was the great need of France and repose the great need of Europe, and Bonaparte at this time satisfied both needs. Liecon- The work of reconstruction which distinguishes the struction consulate, though it was continued under the empire, is ff TTvm-inli , i p 1 1 i -i the most enduring of all the achievements of Napoleon. The institutions of modern France date, not, as is often said, from the Revolution, but from the consulate. Not that Napoleon personally was endowed with a supreme legislative genius ; his principal merit was to have given to France the first secure Government, the first Govern- of French institu- ment capable of effective legislation, that she had had since the destruction of her ancient institutions. The task of reconstruction fell to him of necessity; his personal interference was in many respects, as we shall see, mis chievous rather than beneficial ; it is, however, also true that he appreciated the greatness of the work, urged it on with vigour, entered into it, impressed it with the stamp of his own personality, and left upon it the traces of his keen sagacity. The institutions now created, and which form the organi zation of modern France, are (1) the restored Church, resting on the Concordat ; (2) the University, resting on the law of 11 Floreal, An X. (May 1, 1802); (3) the judicial system, commenced by the law of 27 Ventose, An VIII. (March 18, 1800), and completed by other laws in 1810; (4) the Codes: (a) Code Civil (commission nominated 24 Thermidor, An VIII., August 12, 1800; it received the name Code Napoleon on September 3, 1807), (6) Code de Commerce, promulgated on September 10, 1807, (c) Code Penal, (d) Code d Instruction Criminelle (came into force January 1, 1811); (5) the system of local government, resting on the law of 18 Pluviose, An VIII. (February 7, 1800); (6) the Bank of France, established 28 Nivose, An VIII. (January 18, 1800); (7) the Legion of Honour, established 29 Floreal, An X. (May 19, 1802). These institutions, along with the military system, have in the main continued to the present day after the downfall of all the Napoleonic institutions which were purely political. It is rather the fortune than the merit of Napoleon that no similar mass of legislation can be ascribed to any other sovereign, since no other sovereign has ruled securely over an ancient and civilized country which has been suddenly deprived of all its institutions. It is also a matter of course that much of this legislation has been beneficial, since a tabula rasa relieves the legis lator of many hindrances. In several points, on the other hand, we can see that France was sacrificed to Napoleon s personal interest. Thus the Concordat restored the ancient Papal Church, shorn of its wealth, and receiving from the state a subsidy of about 2,000,000. It was right to restore religion, and the Constitution Civile, which was cancelled by the Concordat, had been an insane act, the principal cause of the miseries of France for ten years. Nevertheless a great opportunity was lost of trying some new experiment, which might have led to a genuine revival of religion ; but for this Napoleon cared nothing so long as he could pose as a new Constantine, detach the church from the cause of the Bourbons, and have the pope at his beck. In like manner the freedom of local govern ment was sacrificed to the exigencies of his despotism. Among the most remarkable of his institutions was the University. The twenty-one universities of old France, including the great mother university of Paris, had fallen victims in 1792 to the insanity of the Legislative Assembly ; nothing of the least efficiency had been established in their place, so that in March 1800 Lucien Bonaparte could write, " since the suppression of the teaching corporations instruc tion has almost ceased to exist in France." By laws of May 1806 and March 1808 was founded the modern University, that is, the whole teaching profession formed into a corporation and endowed by the state, a kind of church of education. This remarkable institution still exists. It has far too much centralization, and is in no way equal to the old system when that is intelligently worked, as in Germany ; many learned men have severely condemned it ; still it was a great constructive effort, and gave Napoleon the occasion for some striking and original remarks. From the time of the battle of Marengo the system of Brumaire began to take a development which perhaps