This hatred produced, particularly in Germany and in Spain, a
real patriotic feeling among the masses of the exploited nations, so
that those very peoples to whom the notions of liberty and equality had
first come as a blessed promise of deliverance from the oppression of
their own divine-right rulers now used the same notions to justify them
in rising as nations against the despotism of a foreign military
oppressor. Liberty, equality, and fraternity--the gospel of the
Revolution--was the boomerang which Napoleon by means of his army
hurled against the European tyrants and which returned with redoubled
force against him.
[Sidenote: 4. "The Continental System"]
It was thus the character of the emperor himself and his military
exigencies that, taken in conjunction with the so-called "Continental
System" and the national revolts, made Napoleon's empire but an episode
in the story of modern times. It is now time to explain the Continental
System and then to see how it reacted throughout Europe upon the
feeling of national patriotism to bring about the downfall of the
Corsican adventurer.
Pages:
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168