n in triumph on his arrival through the streets of
London; and thousands of Englishmen crossed the Channel to visit a
country which had conquered the world, and to gaze on the young general
who after wonderful victories had given a yet more wonderful peace to
Europe. But amidst all the glare of success, shrewd observers saw the
dangers that lay in the temper of the First Consul. Whatever had been
the errors of the French Revolutionists, even their worst attacks on the
independence of the nations around them had been veiled by a vague
notion of freeing the peoples whom they invaded from the yoke of their
rulers. But the aim of Buonaparte was simply that of a vulgar conqueror.
He was resolute to be master of the Western world, and no notions of
popular freedom or sense of national right interfered with his resolve.
The means at his command for carrying out such a design were immense.
The political life of the Revolution had been cut short by his military
despotism, but the new social vigour which the Revolution had given to
France through the abolition of privileges and the creation of a new
middle class on the ruins of the clergy and the nobles still lived on;
and while the dissensions which tore the country asunder were hushed by
the policy of the First Consul, by his restoration of the Church as a
religious power, his recall of the exiles, and the economy and wise
administration that distinguished his rule, the centralised system of
government that had been bequeathed by the Monarchy to the Revolution
and by the Revolution to Buonaparte enabled him easily to seize this
national vigour for the profit of his own despotism. On the other hand,
the exhaustion of the brilliant hopes raised by the Revolution, the
craving for public order, the military enthusiasm and the impulse of a
new glory given by the wonderful victories France had won, made a
Tyranny possible; and in the hands of Buonaparte this tyranny was
supported by a secret police, by the suppression of the press and of all
freedom of opinion, and above all by the iron will and immense ability
of the First Consul himself.

[Sidenote: His designs.]

Once chosen Consul for life, he felt himself secure at home, and turned
restlessly to the work of outer aggression. The pledges given at Amiens
were set aside. The republics established on the borders of France were
brought into mere dependence on his will. Piedmont and Parma were
actually annexed to France; and a French