hoped for, and to be dreaded. Wherever the Emperor was, in the midst of
his hottest campaigns, he examined the details of administration at home
more closely than, perhaps, any other sovereign of half so great an
empire did during the profoundest peace. It was said of him that his
dearest amusement, when he had nothing else to do, was to solve problems
in algebra or geometry. He carried this passion into every department of
affairs; and having, with his own eye, detected some errors of
importance in the public accounts, shortly after his administration
began, there prevailed thenceforth in all the financial records of the
state such clearness and accuracy as are not often exemplified in those
of a large private fortune. Nothing was below his attention, and he
found time for everything. The humblest functionary discharged his duty
under a lively sense of the Emperor's personal superintendence; and the
omnipresence of his police came in lieu, wherever politics were not
touched upon, of the guarding powers of a free press, a free senate, and
public opinion. Except in political cases the trial by jury was the
right of every citizen. The _Code Napoleon_, that elaborate system of
jurisprudence, in the formation of which the Emperor laboured personally
along with the most eminent lawyers and enlightened men of the time, was
a boon of inestimable value to France. "I shall go down to posterity"
(said he, with just pride) "with the Code in my hand." It was the first
uniform system of laws which the French Monarchy had ever possessed: and
being drawn up with consummate skill and wisdom, it at this day forms
the code not only of France, but of a great portion of Europe besides.
Justice, as between man and man, was administered on sound and fixed
principles, and by unimpeached tribunals. The arbitrary Commission
Courts of Napoleon interfered with nothing but offences, real or
alleged, against his authority.

The Clergy were, as we have seen, appointed universally under the
direction of Government: they were also its direct stipendiaries; hence
nothing could be more complete than their subjection to its pleasure.
Education became a part of the regular business of the state; all the
schools and colleges being placed under the immediate care of one of
Napoleon's ministers--all prizes and bursaries bestowed by the
government--and the whole system so arranged, that it was hardly
possible for any youth who exhibited remarkable talents to