In general it was a continuation of
the French the Revolution. The principles of liberty, equality, and
fraternity, which, from 1789 to 1799, had been laid down as the
foundation exclusively of French political and social institutions,
became, from 1799 to 1815, the building-blocks for all European
nations. The least understood and used was undoubtedly liberty. To be
sure, both the Consulate and the empire were concrete and substantial
examples of the replacement of the old theory of divine-right monarchy
by the new idea of popular sovereignty, of governments resting, in last
analysis, upon the consent of the governed. But Napoleon did hardly
more to vitalize individual liberties than did the benevolent despots
of the eighteenth century, or those of his own day. To secure the
interested support of the bourgeoisie and the peasantry, the sacred
right of private property was eloquently reaffirmed, and, as a trusty
weapon against possible clerical pretensions, the noble rights of
liberty of conscience and liberty of worship were grandiloquently
preached; but the less serviceable liberties of speech and of
publication were confined within the narrowest limits of military and
imperial toleration.
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