BY WILL DURANT
The Story of Philosophy
Transition
The Pleasure of Philosophy
Adventures in Genius
BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION
1. Our Oriental Heritage
2. The Life of Greece
3. Caesar and Christ
4. The Age of Faith
5. The Renaissance
6. The Reformation
7. The Age of Reason Begins
8. The Age of Louis XIV
9. The Age of Voltaire
10. Rousseau and Revolution
11. The Age of Napoleon
The Lessons of History
Interpretation of Life
A Dual Autobiography
COPYRIGHT © 1975 BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION
IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
DURANT, WILLIAM JAMES, 1885-
THE AGE OF NAPOLEON.
(HIS THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION; PT. II)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. 781
INCLUDES INDEX.
1. EUROPE—CIVILIZATION. 2. EUROPE—HISTORY—
1789–1815. 3. NAPOLÉON I, EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH,
1769–1821. ι. DURANT, ARIEL, JOINT AUTHOR.
II. TITLE.
CB53.D85 pt. II [CB411] 909s [940.2’7] 75–6888
ISBN 0–671-21988-X (PT. II)
ISBN: 0-965-07443-9
eISBN-13: 978-1-4516-4768-6
TO ETHEL
Preface
“By the middle of the twentieth century,” says the Encyclopaedia Britannica (XVI, Ioa), “the literature on Napoleon already numbered more than 100,000 volumes.” Why add to the heap? We offer no better reason than to say that the Reaper repeatedly overlooked us, and left us to passive living and passive reading after 1968. We grew weary of this insipid and unaccustomed leisure. To give our days some purpose and program we decided to apply to the age of Napoleon (1789–1815) our favorite method of integral history—weaving into one narrative all memorable aspects of European civilization in those twenty-seven years: statesmanship, war, economics, morals, manners, religion, science, medicine, philosophy, literature, drama, music, and art; to see them all as elements in one moving picture, and as interacting parts of a united whole. We would see Prime Minister William Pitt ordering the arrest of author Tom Paine; chemist Lavoisier and mystic Charlotte Corday mounting the guillotine; Admiral Nelson taking Lady Hamilton as his mistress; Goethe foreseeing a century of events from the battle of Valmy; Wordsworth enthusing over the French Revolution, Byron over the Greek; Shelley teaching atheism to Oxford bishops and dons; Napoleon fighting kings and imprisoning a pope, teasing physicians and philosophers, taking half a hundred scholars and scientists to conquer or reveal Egypt, losing Beethoven’s dedication to the Eroica for an empire, talking drama with Talma, painting with David, sculpture with Canova, history with Wieland, literature with Goethe, and fighting a fifteen-year war with the pregnable but indomitable Mme. de Staël. This vision roused us from our septua-octo-genarian lassitude to a reckless resolve to turn our amateur scholarship to picturing that exciting and eventful age as a living whole. And shall we confess it?—we had nurtured from our adolescence a sly, fond interest in Napoleon as no mere warmonger and despot, but as also a philosopher seldom deceived by pretense, and as a psychologist who had ceaselessly studied human nature in the mass and in individual men. One of us was rash enough to give ten lectures on Napoleon in 1921. For sixty years we have been gathering material about him, so that some of our references will be to books once helpful and now dead.
So here it is, a labor of five years, needing a lifetime; a book too long in total, too short and inadequate in every part; only the fear of that lurking Reaper made us call a halt. We pass it on, not to specialist scholars, who will learn nothing from it, but our friends, wherever they are, who have been patient with us through many years, and who may find in it some moment’s illumination or brightening fantasy.
WILL AND ARIEL DURENT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, to our daughter, Ethel Durant Kay, who not only typed the manuscript immaculately, but often improved it with corrections and suggestions. She has been a patient and helpful companion to us at every stage of our enterprise.
To our dear friends Arthur Young and Gala Kourlaeff, who lent us precious books from their private collections.
To the Los Angeles Public Library, and more directly to its Hollywood Branch and the ladies at its reference desk, and especially to Mrs. Edith Cruikshank and Mrs. Elizabeth Fenton.
To J. Christopher Herold, whose books on Napoleon and Mme. de Staël have been a light and a treasure to us; and to Leslie A. Marchand, whose masterly three-volume Byron has moderated, with its wealth of information, a Byronic addiction already passionate in 1905, when WD prayed God to release the crippled poet from hell.
To Vera Schneider, who brought to the months-long task of copy editing all the scope and precision of her scholarship. Our book has profited immensely from her work.
And to our dear friend Fernand, Comte de Saint-Simon, who gave so much of his time to guiding us to Napoleoniana in Paris, Versailles, and Malmaison.
All in all, in life and history, we have found so many good men and women that we have quite lost faith in the wickedness of mankind.
NOTE
In excerpts, italics for emphasis are never ours unless so stated.
Certain especially dull passages, not essential to the story, are indicated by reduced type.
MONETARY EQUIVALENTS
No consistent formulation is possible: coins bearing the same names now as then usually bought, two hundred years ago, much more than now, but sometimes less. History is inflationary, if only through repeated debasements of the currency as an old way of paying governmental debts; but the notion that goods cost less in the past than now is probably the enchantment of distance; in terms of labor required to earn the money to buy them they generally cost more. By and large, allowing for many exceptions and national variations, we may equate some European currencies of 1789 with United States currencies of 1970 as follows.
crown, 6.25
ducat, 12.50
florin, 2.50
franc, 1.25
groschen, ¼cent
guilder, 5.25
guinea, 26.25
gulden, 5.00
kreuzer, ½ cent
lira, 1.25
livre, 1.25
louis d’or, 25.00
mark, 1.25
pound, 25.00
shilling, 1.25
sou, 5 cents
thaler, 5.25
Table of Contents
Book I: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: 1789–99
Chapter I. THE BACKGROUND OF REVOLUTION: 1774–89
I. The French People
II. The Government
Chapter II. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: May 4, 1789-September 30, 1791
I. The States-General
II. The Bastille
III. Enter Marat: 1789
IV. Renunciation: August 4–5, 1789
V.
To Versailles: October 5, 1789
VI. The Revolutionary Constitution: 1790
VII. Mirabeau Pays His Debts: April 2, 1791
VIII. To Varennes: June 20, 1791
Chapter III. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: October 1, 1791-September 20, 1792
I. Persons of the Drama
II. War: 1792
III. Danton
IV. The Massacre: September 2–6, 1792
Chapter IV. THE CONVENTION: September 21, 1792-October 26, 1795
I. The New Republic
II. The Second Revolution: 1793
III. Exit Marat: July 13, 1793
IV. The “Great Committee”: 1793
V. The Reign of Terror: September 17, 1793-July 28, 1794
1. The Gods Are Athirst
2. The Terror in the Provinces
3. The War Against Religion
4 The Revolution Eats Its Children
VI. The Thermidoreans: July 29, 1794-October 26, 1795
Chapter V. THE DIRECTORY: November 2, 1795-November 9, 1799
I. The New Government
II. The Young Napoleon: 1769–95
III. Josephine de Beauharnais
IV. Italian Whirlwind: March 27, 1796-December 5, 1797
V. The Coup d’État of the 18th Fructidor: September 4, 1797
VI. Oriental Fantasy: May 19, 1798-October 8, 1799
VII. The Decline of the Directory: September 4, 1797-November 9, 1799
VIII. Napoleon Takes Charge: The 18th Brumaire (November 9), 1799
Chapter VI. LIFE UNDER THE REVOLUTION: 1789–99
I. The New Classes
II. The New Morality
1. Morality and Law
2. Sexual Morality
III. Manners
IV. Music and Drama
V. The Artists
VI. Science and Philosophy
VII. Books and Authors
VIII. Mme. de Staël and the Revolution
IX. Afterthoughts
BOOK II: NAPOLEON ASCENDANT: 1799–1811
Chapter VII. THE CONSULATE: November 11, 1799-May 18, 1804
I. The New Constitution
1. The Consuls
2. The Ministers
3. The Reception of the Constitution
II. The Campaigns of the Consulate
III. Remaking France: 1802–03
1. The Code Napoléon: 1801–04
2. The Concordat of 1801
IV. The Paths of Glory
V. The Great Conspiracy: 1803–04
VI. The Road to Empire: 1804
Chapter VIII. THE NEW EMPIRE: 1804–07
I. The Coronation: December 2, 1804
II. The Third Coalition: 1805
III. Austerlitz: December 2, 1805
IV. The Mapmaker: 1806–07
V. Jena, Eylau, Friedland: 1806–07
VI. Tilsit: June 25-July 9, 1807
Chapter IX. THE MORTAL REALM: 1807–11
I. The Bonapartes
II. The Peninsular War: I (October 18, 1807- August 21, 1808)
III. Constellation at Erfurt: September 27-October 14, 1808
IV. The Peninsular War: II (October 29, 1808-November 16, 1809)
V. Fouché, Talleyrand, and Austria: 1809
VI. Marriage and Politics: 1809–11
Chapter X. NAPOLEON HIMSELF
I. Body
II. Mind
III. Character
IV. The General
V. The Ruler
VI. The Philosopher
VII. What Was He?
Chapter XI. NAPOLEONIC FRANCE: 1800–1815
I. The Economy
II. The Teachers
III. The Warriors
IV. Morals and Manners
V. Mme. Récamier
VI. The Jews in France
Chapter XII. NAPOLEON AND THE ARTS
I. Music
II. Varia
III. The Painters
IV. The Theater
Chapter XIII. LITERATURE VERSUS NPOLEON
I. The Censor
II. Mme. de Staël: 1799–1817
1. Napoleon’s Nemesis
2. The Author
3. The Tourist
4. Understanding Germany
5. Imperfect Victory
III. Benjamin Constant: 1767–1816
IV. Chateaubriand: 1768–1815
1. Youth
2. Development
3. The Genius of Christianity
4. René
5. Chateaubriand and Napoleon
Chapter XIV. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY UNDER NAPOLEON
I. Mathematics and Physics
II. Medicine
III. Biology
1. Cuvier (1769–1832)
2. Lamarck (1744–1829)
IV. What Is Mind?
V. The Case for Conservatism
BOOK III: BRITAIN: 1789–1812
Chapter XV. ENGLAND AT WORK
I. A Different Revolution
II. At the Bottom
III. The Dismal Science
IV. Robert Owen: 1771–1858
Chapter XVI. ENGLISH LIFE
I. Classes
II. The Government
1. The Legislature
2. The Judiciary
3. The Executive
III. Religion
IV. Education
V. Morality
1. Man and Woman
2. Mary Wollstonecraft
3. Social Morality
VI. Manners
VII. The English Theater
VIII. In Sum
Chapter XVII. THE ARTS IN ENGLAND
I. The Artists
II. Architecture
III. From Cartoons to Constable
IV. Turner: 1775–1851
Chapter XVIII. SCIENCE IN ENGLAND
I. Avenues of Progress
II. Physics: Rumford and Young
III. Chemistry: Dalton and Davy
IV. Biology: Erasmus Darwin 391
V. Medicine: Jenner
Chapter XIX. ENGLISH PHILOSOPHY
I. Tom Paine on Christianity
II. Godwin on Justice
III. Malthus on Population
IV. Bentham on Law
Chapter XX. LITERATURE IN TRANSITION
I. The Press
II. Books
III. Jane Austen: 1775–1817
IV. William Blake: 1757–1827
Chapter XXI. THE LAKE POETS: 1770–1850
I. Ambience
II. Wordsworth: 1770–97
III. Coleridge: 1772–94
IV. Southey: 1774–1803
V. Coleridge: 1794–97
VI. A Threesome: 1797–98
VII. Lyrical Ballads: 1798
VIII. The Wandering Scholars: 1798–99
IX. Idyl in Grasmere: 1800–03
X. Love, Labor, and Opium: 1800–10
XI. Coleridge Philosopher: 1808–17
XII. Wordsworth: Climax, 1804–14
XIII. The Sage of Highgate: 1816–34
XIV. On the Fringe
XV. Southey: 1803–43
XVI. Wordsworth Epilogue: 1815–50
Chapter XXII. THE REBEL POETS: 1788–1824
I. The Tarnished Strain: 1066–1809 454
II. The Grand Tour: Byron, 1809–11
III. The Lion of London: Byron, 1811–14
IV. Trial by Marriage: Byron, 1815–16
V. The Youth of Shelley: 1792–1811
VI. Elopement I: Shelley, 1811–12
VII. Elopement II: Shelley, 1812–16
VIII. Swiss Holiday: Byron and Shelley, 1816
IX. Decay in Venice: Byron, 1816–18
X. Shelley Pater Familias: 1816–18
XI. Shelley: Zenith, 1819–21
XII. Love and Revolution: Byron, 1818–21
XIII. Contrasts
XIV. Pisan Canto: 1821–22
XV. Immolation: Shelley, 1822
XVI. Transfiguration: Byron, 1822–24
XVII. Survivors
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Chapter XXIII. ENGLANDÉS NEIGHBORS: 1789–1815
I. The Scots
II. The Irish
Chapter XXIV. PITT, NELSON, AND NAPOLEON: 1789–1812
I. Pitt and the Revolution
II. Nelson: 1758–1804
III. Trafalgar: 1805
IV. England Marks Time: 1806–12
BOOK IV: THE CHALLENGED KINGS: 1789–1812
Chapter XXV. IBERIA
I. Portugal: 1789–1808
II. Spain: 1808
III. Arthur Wellesley:1769–1807
IV. The Peninsular War: III (1808–12)
V. Results
Chapter XXVI. ITALY AND ITS CONQUERORS: 1789–1813
I. The Map in 1789
II. Italy and the French Revolution
III. Italy under Napoleon: 1800–12
IV. Emperor and Pope
V. Behind the Battles
VI. Antonio Canova: 1757–1822
VII. Vale iterum Italia
Chapter XXVII. AUSTRIA: 1780–1812
I. Enlightened Despots: 1780–92
II. Francis II
III. Metternich
IV. Vienna
V. The Arts
Chapter XXVIII. BEETHOVEN: 1770–1827
I. Youth in Bonn: 1770–92
II. Progress and Tragedy: 1792–1802
III. The Heroic Years: 1803–09
IV. The Lover
V. Beethoven and Goethe: 1792–1802
VI. The Last Victories: 1811–24
VII. Comoedia Finita: 1824–27
Chapter XXIX. GERMANY AND NAPOLEON: 1786–1811
I. The Holy Roman Empire: 1800
II. The Confederation of the Rhine:
III. Napoleon’s German Provinces
IV. Saxony
V. Prussia: Frederick’s Legacy, 1786–87
VI. The Collapse of Prussia: 1797–1807
VII. Prussia Reborn: 1807–12
Chapter XXX. THE GERMAN PEOPLE: 1789–1812
I. Economics
II. Believers and Doubters
III. The German Jews
IV. Morals
V. Education
VI. Science
VII. Art
VIII. Music
IX. The Theater
X. The Dramatists
Chapter XXXI. GERMAN LITERATURE: 1789–1815
I. Revolution and Response
II. Weimar
III. The Literary Scene
IV. The Romantic Ecstasy
V. The Voices of Feeling
VI. The Brothers Schlegel
Chapter XXXII. GERMAN PHILOSOPHY: 1789–1815
I. Fichte: 1762–1814
1. The Radical
2. The Philosopher
3. The Patriot
II. Schelling: 1775–1854
III. Hegel: 1770–1831