Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 14 | Page 6

you had
only seen this multitude pressing eagerly on my steps, rushing down
from the tops of the mountains, calling on me, seeking me out, saluting
me. On my way from Cannes hither I have not conquered--I have
administered. I am not only (as has been pretended) the Emperor of the
soldiers; I am that of the peasants of the plebeians of France.
Accordingly, in spite of all that has happened, you see the people come
back to me. There is sympathy between us. It is not as with the
privileged classes. The noblesse have been in my service; they thronged
in crowds into my antechambers. There is no place that they have not
accepted or solicited. I have had the Montmorencys, the Noailles, the
Rohans, the Beauveaus, the Montemarts, in my train. But there never
was any cordiality between us. The steed made his curvets--he was well
broken in, but I felt him quiver under me. With the people it is another
thing. The popular fibre responds to mine. I have risen from the ranks
of the people: my voice seta mechanically upon them. Look at those
conscripts, the sons of peasants: I never flattered them; I treated them
roughly. They did not crowd round me the less; they did not on that
account cease to cry, `Vive l'Empereur!' It is that between them and me

there is one and the same nature. They look to me as their support, their
safeguard against the nobles. I have but to make a sign, or even to look
another way, and the nobles would be massacred in every province. So
well have they managed matters in the last ten months! but I do not
desire to be the King of a mob. If there are the means to govern by a
constitution well and good. I wished for the empire of the world, and to
ensure it complete liberty of action was necessary to me. To govern
France merely it is possible that a constitution may be better. I wished
for the empire of the world, as who would not have done in my place?
The world invited me to rule over it. Sovereigns and subjects alike
emulously bowed the neck under my sceptre. I have seldom met with
opposition in France, but still I have encountered more of it from some
obscure and unarmed Frenchmen than from all these Kings so resolute,
just now, no longer to have a man of the people for their equal! See
then what appears to you possible; let me know your ideas. Public
discussion, free elections, responsible ministers, the liberty of the press,
I have no objection to all that, the liberty of the press especially; to
stifle it is absurd. I am convinced on this point. I am the man of the
people: if the people really wish for liberty let them have it. I have
acknowledged their sovereignty. It is just that I should lend an ear to
their will, nay, even to their caprices I have never been disposed to
oppress them for my pleasure. I conceived great designs; but fate 'has
been against me; I am no longer a conqueror, nor can I be one. I know
what is possible and what is not.--I have no further object than to raise
up France and bestow on her a government suitable to her. I have no
hatred to liberty, I have set it aside when it obstructed my path, but I
understand what it means; I was brought up in its school: besides, the
work of fifteen years is overturned, and it is not possible to
recommence it. It would take twenty years, and the lives of 2,000,000
of men to be sacrificed to it. As for the rest, I desire peace, but I can
only obtain it by means of victory. I would not inspire you with false
expectations. I permit it to be said that negotiations are going on; there
are none. I foresee a hard struggle, a long war. To support it I must be
seconded by the nation, but in return I believe they will expect liberty.
They shall have it: the circumstances are new. All I desire is to be
informed of the truth. I am getting old. A man is no longer at forty-five
what he was at thirty. The repose enjoyed by a constitutional king may

suit me: it will still more certainly be the best thing, for my son."
From this remarkable address. Benjamin Constant concluded that no
change had taken place in Bonaparte's views or feelings in matters of
government, but, being convinced that circumstances had changed, he
had made up his mind to conform to them. He says, and we cannot
doubt it, "that he listened to Napoleon with the deepest interest, that