The day of sleepy, selfish policy, ever
narrowing the means and opportunities of young men, was ended, and a
day of expansion and demand was come. A market for all the powers and
productions of man was opened: brilliant prizes glittered in the eyes
of youth and talent. The old, iron-bound, feudal France was changed
into a young Ohio or New York; and those who smarted under the immediate
rigors of the new monarch, pardoned them as the necessary severities
of the military system which had driven out the oppressor. And even
when the majority of the people had begun to ask, whether they had
really gained anything under the exhausting levies of men and money
of the new master,--the whole talent of the country, in every rank and
kindred, took his part, and defended him as its natural patron. In
1814, when advised to rely on the higher classes, Napoleon said to
those around him, "Gentlemen, in the situation in which I stand, my
only nobility is the rabble of the Faubourgs."
Napoleon met this natural expectation. The necessity of his position
required a hospitality to every sort of talent, and its appointment
to trusts; and his feelings went along with this policy.
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