“A soldier who hated disorder.” To what extent is this reflected in Napoleon’s domestic policy? Napoleon established an orderly but highly autocratic administration. Even if he was part of a three-man triumvirate, Napoleon was the only one who mattered as the First Consul. All executive power was vested in him and he had direct and indirect control of the legislative process. It was direct in so far as the deliberations of the State Council could only yield laws for France if he gave his consent. It was indirect but powerful all the same in the sense that he was the only one with the authority to nominate members to the State Council. He installed a military-style system of administration bringing central and local government were directly under his control. The government officials in the Senate, Tribunate, Mayors and Prefects were chosen directly and indirectly by him and were expected to implement his policies. Napoleon was dictatorial through his control of the Legislative process as laws were initiated by a Council of State chosen by him. The laws would then be discussed and voted by the Tribunate and legislative body. All these bodies were chosen by the Napoleon-appointed senate. They were however chosen from a list of candidates elected by the voters. The closest Napoleon came to sharing power ideal was by re-organising national administration and appointing a Council of State prefects and sub-prefects for the departments he had divided France into. However there was no real power-sharing as the administrators were his appointees and therefore acted on his behalf and not that of the general population. It is therefore impossible to talk of the equality of opportunities when Napoleon had restored a nepotistic and hereditary system that benefited only his family line and not necessarily the man best qualified as envisaged in the revolution’s ideal of equality of opportunity. Napoleon ultimately showed neither respect for the people’s revolutionary right to choose their rulers nor his self-proclaimed concept of ‘careers open to talent’. Order was established through highly repressive state apparatus which left no room for dissent. He re-introduced spies, the secret police, censorship and imprisonment without trial which his predecessors had abolished became a reality once more. With the restoration of censorship, newspapers, drama and other forms of entertainment were carefully scrutinised for seditious content. According to A. Guerard 60 out of 73 newspapers were banned after censorship was introduced. Vincent Cronin also claims that only four out of thousands of newspapers, journals and articles were allowed to publish in 1811. Critics and dissidents were silenced and kept under control by a strict police force headed by Fouche’. Order was thus achieved in France by silencing dissenting voices and thereafter there were hardly any serious threats to his rule until he lost the war against the European coalition in 1814. Order was also achieved through the introduction of a codified and uniform system of law (Code Napoleon) which confirmed the rights of private property and the land settlement of the Revolution. This was complemented by the Concordat which helped maintain order by reconciling the Church and State after the chaos and civil war that was ignited partly by the revolutionary government’s attempts to undermine and even destroy Christianity. The Concordat enabled the Church to accept the loss of its lands confiscated during the revolution from 1789. Napoleon won the support of Catholic Christians after he recognised Catholicism as the dominant religion in France and he gained power over the church through he appointing the bishops. On the other hand the concordat also won him the support of the bourgeoisie and peasants who were now re-assured of the permanency of their ownership of the former lands of Church and nobility. In the words of David Thomson, “Bonaparte ensured, above all, that there would be no counter-revolution - and this rallied middle classes and peasants alike behind the Consulate."
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:04:54 +0000
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