an immense service to his country by converting this legal chaos into order and unity.

In 1801, he made a Concordat with Pius VII. which restored the Catholic religion and the Papal authority in France, taking care to reserve for the Government complete control over the Church by the nomination of all its officials. In 1802, he instituted the Legion of Honor an Order of Chivalry for the reward of merit civil or military.

His popularity had by this time become so universal that the Senate, at his instigation, proposed him for election as First Consul for life; and the new title was conferred on him in August, 1802, by a popular Vote of over three millions and a half.*

On 14th April of the following year he established the Bank of France, which from that day to this he3 been administered with incredible skill. It has surmounted the immense disasters which have befallen France for the last seventy years three Invasions from abroad, and three Revolutions at home.

During the whole period of the Consulate the activity of the First Consul knew no bounds. In every direction, and by every means, he sought to develop the resources and promote the welfare of France. Canals were dug by his orders; harbors were built; roads and bridges constructed; taxation was reformed; and education enlarged. All this tended to make him more and more the idol of France; and in May, 1804, the Senate, again at his

* The National Convention of 1793 introduced Universal Suffrage into France. The Constitution of 1795 maintained it, but with some small modifications. Napoleon continued it, and it was not abolished till the Restoration in 1815.

own suggestion, offered him the Crown as the Emperor of the French. The Nation was consulted as before; and by a Vote of over three millions and a half against two thousand, he was raised to the purple. His Coronation took place 2nd December, 1804, amid great pomp at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Pius VII. came from Rome to consecrate it by his presence.

EMPIRE.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

BEFORE giving a short résumé of the events of the Empire, it may be well to remark that the System of Centralization, which attained its full development under Napoleon, owed its origin to events many ages. before him. The concentration of power in the hands of the Central Government began with the struggles. between the feudal Nobility and the Monarchy. Under the Feudal System, as shown, France was broken up into endless jurisdictions independent of each other; but as the Monarchy gained ground these local governments gradually diminished. Louis XI. gave a great impetus to Centralization, and Cardinal Richelieu extended it still more. The Politicians who directed the Revolution of 1789 carried Centralization far beyond their Monarchical predecessors; for their object was to hold France in complete subjection to Paris as the centre of all political direction.

When Napoleon assumed the Government, he found the administrative machinery of the Revolution well adapted to his purpose. At that moment whoever held Paris controlled France. Every village as well as every Department was governed by a Maire and a Préfet sent from the Capital. Napoleon really had little to do to make the Centralization of Power more

absolute than he found it. Certes, it lost nothing of its vigor in his iron grasp.

The rise of the Empire witnessed a formidable Coalition meant to destroy it. In August, 1805, Russia, Austria, and Naples joined England, already at war with France, for its overthrow. The battle of Austerlitz, in December, crushed this combination; and the Treaty of Presburg followed, which deprived Austria of all her Italian provinces, and raised Wurtemberg and Bavaria from Duchies to Kingdoms, for the benefit of Napoleon's German allies. Soon after, 1806, the King of Naples was dispossessed of his throne, which was given to Joseph, the elder brother of Napoleon. Another brother, Louis, was made King of Holland, and Murat, a brother-in-law, became Grand-Duke of Berg.

With a view to consolidate his position in Germany, Napoleon proposed to the feudal Princes under the tutelage of Austria and Prussia to form a Confederation, of which he offered to become the head and protector. His scheme was adopted by fourteen Princes; and thus was founded the Confederation of the Rhine,' which closed the career of the German Empire.

This event, coupled with the seductions of England and Russia, induced Prussia to enter into a new Coalition against France. The defeat of Prussia, in October, 1806, at Jena, and the double rout of Russia at Eylau, in February, and at Friedland in June, 1807, again left Napoleon master of the situation. The Treaty of Tilsit between Napoleon and Alexander, February, 1807, closed the war. It contained sundry secret Articles, which amounted to the partition of Europe, exclusive of England and Turkey, between them. Prussia was despoiled of large territories; a portion of which was

annexed to Westphalia, of which Jerome, the youngest brother of Napoleon, was made King.

At this time, Napoleon planned his "Continental Blockade," to which Russia assented, by which he hoped to ruin the commerce of England, in closing all the European ports against her. To this effect were issued the Berlin and Milan Decrees in November, 1806, and in December, 1807.

The triumph of Napoleon over all the combinations of continental Europe seemed to convince him of the permanence of his dynasty. In March, 1808, he decreed the creation of an Hereditary Nobility. At this period, too, he set to work improving and embellishing Paris, and ordered an Exhibition of the Products of French Industry.

The condition of Spain next attracted the Emperor's attention. Charles IV. of Spain was wholly under the domination of his wife and her favorite, Manuel de Godoy, which induced the Prince of the Asturias, the King's eldest son, to put himself at the head of a popular movement and force his father to abdicate. The French Emperor offered himself as an Arbitrator between the two; and the tractable Charles abdicated finally in favor of Napoleon, who immediately transferred his brother Joseph from Naples to the throne at Madrid.

This transaction led to a general rising in Spain, in which all classes united, and which was powerfully aided by an English army. It was the origin of that famous Peninsular War, which from 1808 to 1813 witnessed the successive defeats of the best French Generals, and founded the military fame of the Duke of Wellington. During these five years, the French loss has been estimated at over 400,000 men.