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 THE NATURE OF LIFE
A STUDY IN METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS

BY
FLORENCE WEBSTER, M.A.

REPRINTED FROM

ARCHIVES OP PHILOSOPHY
No. 13

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOB

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, I N THE FACULTY OF
PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

NEW YOBK CITY

1922
THE NATURE OF LIFE—A STUDY IN METAPHYSICAL
ANALYSIS

PREFATORY NOTE

I became interested in the conception of life, while a graduate

student at Wellesley in 1913. T h e results of my study of it at that time
were embodied in a thesis, entitled " A Conception of L i f e , " that was
presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's de-
gree at Wellesley College in November, 1914. T h e first section of
this paper was devoted to an examination of biological conceptions of
life. T h e second was more definitely philosophical and began with an
analysis of experience, which resulted in a recognition of two con-
trasting aspects of reality, variously termed mind and matter, self and
ideas, the spiritual and the material, the psychical and the physical,
etc. Life was then defined as the imperfect union of these two.
N o attempt was made to discuss in any detail the spiritual or inner
life, though I felt strongly that a philosophical definition of life should
cover both physical and spiritual life, as ethics and religion deal with
life quite as much as biology does. I was therefore anxious to con-
tinue my study of the nature of life. However, when I returned to it
in the fall of 1919, I found that life appeared in so many forms that
my discussion would have to be confined to certain typical cases. These
are presented in chapters I I - V I I of the present paper under the
headings: Physical Life and Nutrition, Behavior and Sentient Life,
Conscious Life and Mind, Values and the Moral Life, Life and Society,
and Ideals and the Spiritual Life. The aim in each case has been to
discover the fundamental characteristics of life and the basis for the
differentiation of /its forms.
T h e two papers thus agree in that they both seek to define life in such
a way as to include all its forms. But they differ widely in the back-
grounds against which this is worked out and in the terms used to
express the results. T h e first paper was avowedly philosophical in a
historical and critical fashion with a decided leaning toward idealism.
T h e second is f a r more naturalistic and realistic and was written on the
assumption that things are to be understood by discovering the structure
to which they conform. 1 The most familiar types or "kinds" of
i C f . F. J . E. Woodbridge: "Structure," Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XIV,
pp. 680-688.
IV PREFATORY NOTE

structure are the spatial, mechanical, chemical and logical. There

appear to be temporal structures as well, as is evident in music and
history for example. Life also is found to possess a temporal structure
in terms of which it may significantly be defined. But unfortunately
temporal structures have not been studied with the care that has been
given by geometry to spatial and indeed they seem to have received
very little systematic attention. Therefore I have simply attempted
to indicate the temporal structure of life and suggest the relation
between this and its characteristic teleological organization.
This paper, which was submitted at Columbia University in Feb-
ruary 1921 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctorate,
in no sense pretends to be a complete discussion of the nature of life
and is now offered rather as a suggestive study in metaphysical
analysis than as a final definition of life.
F. W .
WOODSTOCK, N E W YORK,
FEBRUARY 1922.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
INTRODUCTION
I. THE MANIFOLD TYPES OF LIFE 3

EXAMINATION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF LIFE

II. PHYSICAL L I F E AND NUTRITION 9
Chief characteristics: specific form, growth and re-
production, metabolism, and movement.
Environment: realm of mechanical and chemical struc-
ture.
Chief features or factors of physical life.
Organization (specificity).
Temporal structure.
Teleological organization.

III. BEHAVIOR AND SENTIENT LIFE 24

Chief characteristics: behavior, sensation and emotion.
Environment includes realm of primary, secondary
and tertiary qualities.
Chief factors of sentient life.
Organization.
Temporal structure.
Teleology (purposive, though not purposed).

IV. CONSCIOUS LIFE AND MIND 33

Characteristics: cognition and imagination.
Environment includes meaning and implication, is the
domain of logical structure.
Chief factors of mental life.
Organization and individuality.
Temporal structure: prospective and retrospective
aspects of consciousness.
Teleology and conscious purpose.
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter
V. VALUES AND T H E MORAL LIFE
Preliminary discussion of teleology.
Life in the realm of values or goods.
Chief factors of moral life.
Organization and character.
Temporal structure.
Teleology and design.

VI. L I F E A N D SOCIETY
Life of the individual in society.
Society as possessing a life of its own.
Chief factors of social life.
Organization.
Temporal structure (in greatly extended form).
Teleology, conscious and unconscious.

VII. IDEALS AND T H E SPIRITUAL L I F E

Forms: religious, esthetic, intellectual, moral.
Realm of Ideals: the true, the good, the beautiful,
God and society.
Chief factors of the spiritual life.
Organization and personality.
Temporal structure.
Teleology and ideal aims.

CONCLUSION

VIII. DEFINITION OF L I F E
In terms of its factors :
Organization.
Temporal structure.
Teleology.
The differences in its forms due to the variety of the
domains in which they occur.
INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER I
THE MANIFOLD TYPES OF LIFE

Life is at once so intimate and so general, appearing in our most

personal problems and practical affairs as well as in abstract science
and philosophy, that any attempt to define it seems from the outset
doomed to failure. Have the biologist and the moralist anything in
common when they both talk of life or are they rather using the
same word with radically different meanings ? Certainly Eucken's
inquiries into the basis and ground of life seem to have nothing to do
with the biologist's discussion of protoplasm as the basis of life; and
the theologian appears to have something quite different in mind when
he tries to expound the secret of life, from what interests the scientist
when he considers the origin of life. In fact can there be any con-
nection or comparison between philosophies of life such as the Stoic,
Epicurean and Christian and theories of life such as mechanism and
vitalism? Still these all continue to discuss life, and such contrasts as
that of the speculative and practical life, of the simple and strenuous
life, of rational and emotional life, of plant and animal life, and even
of human and divine life are common and familiar enough, as are
also such phrases as industrial, business and economic life, and col-
lective, group and community life. But is there any significance in
these all being termed life or would it be more accurate to rephrase
these expressions, making the adjectives into nouns and omitting all
reference to life? Doubtless this might be done in some cases, but not
in all, for life, I think, has a definite meaning of its own. Intellect
and practise are hardly equivalents for the intellectual and practical
lives, nor business and industry for business and industrial life, and
even less is the physical the same as physical life, and at the other
extreme eternity appears to be quite different from the eternal life.
Could Santayana's Life of Reason be called as fittingly Reason, and
would Eucken's insistence on the need for the independent spiritual
life have as much appeal if he left out all reference to life and talked
about the need of an independent spirit ? Certainly it would carry very
different implications.
The differences in the types of life mentioned—and the list might be
extended greatly in numerous ways—are of course important as well as
evident, and it is with no intention of minimizing these that I wish to
suggest that these varying types are all termed life neither by accident
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passed us unattended by any escort, with an air of perfect security,
and even with an expression of kindness, which quite delighted us.
Our acclamations were not less sincere than those of the French
themselves.
“Napoleon and Maria Louisa, returning from their journey in
Holland, arrived at Givet on the Meuse, where several hundred
English prisoners were at that time collected. A sudden storm arose;
there was a heavy fall of rain, the river overflowed its banks, and the
pontoon bridge was broken and rendered impassable. However, the
Emperor, anxious to continue his journey, and not being in the habit
of thinking any thing impossible, resolved to cross the river at all
hazards. All the boatmen in the neighbourhood were collected
together; but not one would attempt to cross. ‘However,’ said
Napoleon, ‘I am determined to be on the other side of the river
before noon.’ He immediately ordered some of the principal English
prisoners to be brought to him: ‘Are there many of you here?’ said
he, ‘and are there any sailors among you?’ ‘There are 500 of us, and
we are all seamen,’ was the reply. ‘Well, I want to know whether you
think it possible to cross the river, and whether you will undertake to
convey me to the opposite bank.’ It was acknowledged to be a
hazardous attempt, but some of our veterans undertook to
accomplish it. Napoleon got into the boat with a degree of
confidence that surprised us, and he reached the opposite bank in
safety. He heartily thanked those who had rendered him this service,
and ordered that they should be supplied with new clothes. To this
he added a pecuniary present, and granted them their liberty.
“A young English sailor, seized with an ardent longing to return to
his country, escaped from a depôt, and succeeded in making his way
to the coast, in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, where he concealed
himself in the woods. His eager desire to return home suggested to
him the idea of making a little boat, to enable him to reach some of
the English cruisers, which he spent the greater part of the day in
watching, from the tops of the trees on the shore. He was seized
just at the moment when he was about to put to sea with his little
boat, and to make a desperate attempt to secure his liberty. He was
imprisoned on suspicion of being a spy or a robber. This
circumstance reached the ears of Napoleon, who was then at
Boulogne, and he felt a curiosity to see the boat, of which he heard
so much. When it was shown to him, he could not bring himself to
believe that any rational being would have ventured to put to sea in
it. He ordered the sailor to be brought to him, and the young man
declared that he had really intended to escape, with the aid of his
boat, and the only favour he asked was permission to execute his
project. ‘You appear very eager to return to England,’ said the
Emperor; ‘Perhaps you have left a sweetheart behind you?’ ‘No,’
replied the young man, ‘but I have a mother, at home, who is old
and infirm, and I am anxious to return to her.’—‘Well, you shall
return,’ said Napoleon; and he immediately ordered that the young
man should be provided with new clothes, and sent on board the
first English cruiser that might appear in sight. He also directed that
he should be furnished with a sum of money, as a present to his
mother, remarking that she must be a good mother, to have so good
a son.”[3]
Among the many acts of kindness which the Emperor exercised
towards the English, who were detained in France, there is one
which happened to come within my own knowledge, and of which a
Mr. Manning was the object. This gentleman, whom I knew very well
in Paris, and who had been induced to travel for the sake of
scientific investigation, thought he might obtain his liberty by
addressing a petition to Napoleon, praying for permission to visit the
interior of Asia. His friends laughed at his simplicity; but he turned
the laugh against us when, at the expiration of a few weeks, he
triumphantly informed us of the success of his application. I find it
mentioned in Dr. O’Meara’s work, that this same Mr. Manning, after a
peregrination of several years, touched at St. Helena, on his return
to Europe, and urgently requested leave to see Napoleon, in order to
express his gratitude by laying a few presents at his feet, and
answering any inquiries he might make respecting the Grand Lama,
whom he had had an opportunity of visiting through the Emperor’s
particular favour.
PHYSICAL ADVANTAGES OF RUSSIA.—HER POLITICAL POWER.—REMARKS ON
INDIA.—PITT AND FOX.—IDEAS ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.—COMPANIES, OR
FREE TRADE.—M. DE SUFFREN.—THE EMPEROR’S REMARKS ON THE NAVY.

6th.—The Emperor continued in a state of convalescence, and he

received some visitors about the middle of the day. I waited upon
him, accompanied by Madame de Montholon. He conversed a great
deal about the society of Paris, and related several anecdotes of the
Tuileries.
In the evening, the Emperor resumed his geographical
observations. He dwelt particularly on Asia; on the situation of
Russia, and the facility with which the latter power might make an
attempt on India, or even on China, and the alarm which she might,
therefore, justly excite in the English. He calculated the number of
troops that Russia might employ, their probable point of departure,
the route they would be likely to pursue, and the wealth they would
obtain in such an enterprise. On all these subjects he made the most
curious and valuable remarks. I very much regret my inability to
record them here, for my notes, in this instance, afford me only
slight hints, and I cannot trust to the accuracy of my memory for
filling up the details.
The Emperor next adverted to what he called the admirable
situation of Russia against the rest of Europe, to the immense mass
she possessed for invasion. He represented that power seated
beneath the pole, and backed by eternal bulwarks of ice, which, in
case of need, would render her inaccessible. Russia, he said, could
only be attacked during one third or fourth of the year; while, on the
contrary, she had the whole year, the whole twelve months, to act
against us; her assailants would encounter the rigours and privations
of a frigid climate and a barren soil, while her troops, pouring down
upon us, would enjoy the fertility and charms of our southern
region.
To these physical circumstances, continued the Emperor, may be
added the advantage of an immense population, brave, hardy,
devoted and passive, including those numerous uncivilized hordes,
to whom privation and wandering are the natural state of existence.
“Who can avoid shuddering,” said he, “at the thought of such a vast
mass, unassailable either on the flanks or in the rear, descending
upon us with impunity; if triumphant, overwhelming every thing in
its course; or, if defeated, retiring amidst the cold and desolation,
that may be called its reserves in case of defeat; and possessing
every facility of issuing forth again at a future opportunity. Is not this
the head of the Hydra, the Antæus of fable, which can only be
subdued by grappling it bodily, and stifling it in one’s arms. But
where is the Hercules to be found? France alone could think of such
an achievement, and it must be confessed we made but an awkward
attempt at it.”
The Emperor was of opinion that, in the new political combination
of Europe, the fate of that portion of the world depended entirely on
the capacity and disposition of a single man. “Should there arise,”
said he, “an Emperor of Russia, valiant, impetuous, and intelligent;
in a word, a Czar with a beard on his chin, (this he pronounced very
emphaticallly) Europe is his own. He may commence his operations
on the German territory, one hundred leagues from the two capitals,
Berlin and Vienna, whose sovereigns are his only obstacles. He
secures the alliance of the one by force, and with his aid subdues
the other, at a single stroke. He then finds himself in the heart of
Germany, amidst the Princes of the second rank, most of whom are
either his relations or dependents. Meanwhile, he may, should he
think it necessary, throw a few firebrands across the Alps, on the soil
of Italy, ripe for explosion, and he may then march triumphantly to
Paris to proclaim himself the new Liberator. I know if I were in such
a situation, I would undertake to reach Calais in a given time, and by
regular marching stations, thereto become the master and arbiter of
Europe....” Then, after a few moments’ silence, he added, “Perhaps,
my dear Las Cases, you may be tempted to say, as the minister of
Pyrrhus said to his master, ‘And after all, to what purpose?’ My
answer is, to establish a new state of society, and to avert great
misfortunes. This is a blessing which Europe expects and solicits.
The old system is ended, and the new one is not consolidated, and
will not be so until after long and furious convulsions.”
 The Emperor was again silent, and after measuring, with his
compasses, the distances on the map, he observed that
Constantinople was, from its situation, calculated to be the centre
and seat of universal dominion.
He then alluded to the English settlements in India, and asked me
whether I knew any thing of their history. I told him what little I
knew on this subject.
Queen Elizabeth created an East India Company by virtue of her
royal prerogative.
A century later, the Parliament created another. However, as these
two companies were found to injure each other by their
competitions, they were united under one charter.
In 1716, the Company obtained from the sovereigns of India the
famous firman or Indian charter, authorizing them to export or
import free of all duty.
In 1741, the Company first commenced military interference in the
affairs of India, in opposition to the French Company, who took the
adverse side. Since then, the two nations have constantly waged
war in that distant land, whenever a contest arose between them in
Europe. France had a short interval of success in the war of 1740,
was crushed in 1755, maintained an equality in 1779, and at length
totally disappeared during the war of the Revolution.
The English East India Company now rules the whole peninsula,
including a population of more than 60,000,000, of which
20,000,000 are its subjects, 20,000,000 its tributaries or allies, and
the rest are involved in its system and obliged to go along with it.[4]
Such is the famous East India Company, which at once acts the
part of merchant and sovereign; whose wealth is derived both from
commercial profits and territorial revenues. Hence it results that the
merchant is frequently actuated by the ambition of the sovereign,
while the sovereign plans, directs, and executes with the cupidity of
the merchant. In these peculiar circumstances, in this two-fold
character, we may trace the cause of the progress, measures,
conflicts, contradictions, disorders, and clamours, that compose the
history of this celebrated Company.
 The English East India Company has long reigned absolute and
independent. It was and still continues to be represented by a Court
of Directors, chosen from among the proprietors. These Directors
delegate and direct in India, by despatches, a regency or council,
consisting of a Governor and some assessors, who represent and
exercise the sovereign authority.
In 1767, the Crown for the first time put forward claims on the
territory and revenues of India; but the Company purchased its
relinquishment of them by a subsidy equivalent to ten or twelve
millions of francs.
About the year 1773, the East India Company, finding its affairs
extremely deranged, made application to Parliament, which took
advantage of its embarrassment to secure its dependence. The
Company’s possessions were subjected to new political, judicial, and
financial regulations, which, however, produced no very satisfactory
result. The Indian peninsula was thrown into the utmost disorder;
and the establishment of a Supreme Court of Justice, operating as a
rival to the Sovereign Council, and appointed for the purpose of
introducing English laws in the country, particularly excited the
dissatisfaction and alarm of the natives. The fury of parties, and
their reciprocal accusations and complaints, have transmitted to us a
picture of the odious measures, the boundless rapacity and atrocious
tyranny of this stormy period, which is the least honourable in the
history of the East India Company.
In 1783, with the view of providing a radical remedy for these
evils, Mr. Fox, who was then Prime Minister, brought forward his
famous Bill, the failure of which occasioned his resignation. Mr. Pitt,
who had been the opponent of this Bill, in the following year
introduced another, which laid the foundation of his celebrity, and
which still continues to regulate the affairs of the East India
Company. Fox’s Bill would, in fact, have been a judicial seizure; it
would have placed all the Company’s property in the hands of a
managing committee, who were to liquidate its debts, and dispose of
all employments. The members of this Committee, appointed by the
King or by Parliament, were to be irremoveable, and were to sit until
they should have established the affairs of the Company on a better
footing. A general outcry was raised against these propositions,
which, it was said, would place important interests, vast patronage,
and enormous influence, in the hands of a few individuals. It was
said that the Bill was calculated to introduce a fourth power in the
state, and to set up a rival to the Crown itself. Mr. Fox was even
accused of a wish to establish himself permanently in office, by
creating a sort of concealed sovereignty, superior to that of the King;
for, Fox being at this time Minister, and having Parliament under his
control, he would have appointed and ruled the proposed
Committee. Through the influence of this Committee, he would have
composed and governed Parliament, and with the aid of Parliament,
he would have established and perpetuated the Committee; in short,
there was no end to the power which he would thus have exercised.
A violent clamour arose, and the King made the business a personal
matter. He appealed to his own friends, to those individuals in the
House of Peers who were sincerely attached to him, and regarded
the measures proposed as an attack on his very existence. The Bill
failed, and Fox quitted the ministry.
Pitt was more adroit, and assumed the appearance of greater
moderation. In his Bill, he merely contented himself with placing the
Company under a sort of guardianship; submitting all its operations
to a Committee appointed to revise and counter-sign them. He left
to the Company the power of nomination to all employments; but
reserved to the Crown the appointment of the Governor General,
and the veto on all other nominations. This Committee, which was
appointed by the King, formed a new branch in the administration.
Complaints were now raised against the vast increase of influence
which this measure would give to the royal authority, and which, it
was affirmed, would infallibly break the constitutional equilibrium.
Fox had been reproached with having wished to keep this influence
wholly apart from the King; and Pitt was accused of having placed it
entirely in his hands. All that the one had desired to do for the
people, it was said the other had done for the monarch. Indeed,
these two distinct characters, these two opposite evils, constituted
the whole difference between the two Bills, which produced a
decisive battle between the Whigs and Tories. Mr. Pitt gained the
victory, and the Tories triumphed.
The faults of Fox’s Bill still remain hypothetical, since they were
never put to the test; but the evils that were predicted from Pitt’s
measures have been formally fulfilled. The equilibrium of power has
been broken, the true English constitution has ceased to exist, the
royal authority, daily augmented, has encroached in every direction,
and is now marching, unimpeded, on the high road, to arbitrary and
absolute power.
The Ministers command in Parliament a majority, which they have
themselves created, which perpetuates their power and legalizes
their arbitrary measures. Thus, English liberty is daily more and
more fettered by the very forms which were intended for its
defence; and the future, instead of affording a prospect of remedy,
appears to threaten greater misfortunes! How could Fox’s plan have
produced more fatal results? For it may truly be said that all the
great encroachments that have been made on the English
constitution have been occasioned by the interests of India. Surely
the weight which Fox wished to secure to the popular side could not
have been more disastrous to the cause of liberty than that with
which Pitt surcharged the royal prerogative!
Consequently, it is now often boldly asserted that Fox was in the
right, that he was wiser, and could not have been so mischievous as
his rival.
The names of Pitt and Fox having been thus introduced, the
Emperor dwelt long on the characters, systems, and measures of
those two celebrated statesmen; and concluded with the following
remarks, which had already fallen from him on several previous
occasions: “Pitt,” said he, “was the master of European policy; he
held in his hand the moral fate of nations; but he made an ill use of
his power. He kindled the fire of discord throughout the universe;
and his name, like that of Erostratus, will be inscribed in history,
amidst flames, lamentations, and tears!... The first sparks of our
Revolution, then the resistance that was opposed to the national
will, and, finally, the horrid crimes that ensued, all were his work.
Twenty-five years of universal conflagration; the numerous coalitions
that added fuel to the flame; the revolution and devastation of
Europe; the bloodshed of nations; the frightful debt of England, by
which all these horrors were maintained; the pestilential system of
loans, by which the people of Europe are oppressed; the general
discontent that now prevails;—all must be attributed to Pitt. Posterity
will brand him as a scourge; and the man so lauded in his own time
will hereafter be regarded as the genius of evil. Not that I consider
him to have been really wicked, or doubt his having entertained the
conviction that he was acting right. But St. Bartholomew had also its
conscientious advocates; the Pope and Cardinals celebrated it by a
Te Deum; and we have no reason to doubt their having done so in
perfect sincerity. Such is the weakness of human reason and
judgment! But that for which posterity will, above all, execrate the
memory of Pitt, is the hateful school that he has left behind him, its
insolent Machiavelism, its profound immorality, its cold egotism, and
its utter disregard of justice and human happiness.
“Whether it be the effect of admiration and gratitude, or the result
of mere instinct and sympathy, Pitt is, and will continue to be, the
idol of the European aristocracy. There was, indeed, a touch of the
Sylla in his character. His system has kept the popular cause in
check, and brought about the triumph of the patricians. As to Fox,
one must not look for his model among the ancients. He is himself a
model, and his principles will sooner or later rule the world.”
The Emperor said a great deal about Fox, and expressed the great
attachment he entertained for him. He had had his bust put up at
Malmaison, before he knew him personally. He concluded with a
remark, which he used often to make, at different times, and in
various ways: “Certainly,” said he, “the death of Fox was one of the
fatalities of my career. Had his life been prolonged, affairs would
have taken a totally different turn; the cause of the people would
have triumphed, and we should have established a new order of
things in Europe.”
Returning to the subject of the East India Company, the Emperor
observed that the question respecting the comparative advantage of
the monopoly of a company, or free trade for all, was an important
subject of consideration. “A Company,” said he, “places great
advantages in the hands of a few individuals, who may attend very
well to their own interests, while they neglect those of the mass.
Thus every company soon degenerates into an oligarchy: it is always
the friend of power, to which it is ready to lend every assistance. In
this point of view, companies were exclusively suited to old times
and old systems. Free trade, on the contrary, is favourable to the
interests of all classes; it excites the imagination and rouses the
activity of a people; it is identical with equality, and naturally leads to
independence. In this respect, it is most in unison with our modern
system. After the treaty of Amiens, by which France regained her
Indian possessions, I had this grand question thoroughly discussed
before me, and at great length; I heard both statesmen and
commercial men; and my final opinion was in favour of free trade,
and against companies.”
The Emperor then discussed several points of political economy
which are treated by Smith in his Wealth of Nations. He admitted
that they were true in principle; but proved them to be false in
application. Unfortunately, the scantiness of my notes here prevents
me from entering into particulars.
“Formerly,” said he, “only one kind of property was known, that
which consisted in landed possessions; afterwards, a second kind
arose, that of industry or manufactures, which is now in opposition
to the first; then arose a third, that which is derived from the
burdens levied on the people, and which, distributed by the neutral
and impartial hands of government, might obviate the evils of
monopoly on the part of the two others, intervene between them,
and prevent them from coming into actual conflict.” This great
contest of modern times, he called the war of the fields against the
factories, of the castles against the counting-houses.
“It is,” said he, “because men will not acknowledge this great
revolution in property, because they persist in closing their eyes on
these truths, that so many acts of folly are now committed, and that
nations are exposed to so many disorders. The world has sustained
a great shock, and it now seeks to return to a settled state. There,”
said he, “is in two words, the Key to the universal agitation that at
present prevails: the ship’s cargo has been shifted, her ballast has
been removed from the stem to the stern; hence are produced those
violent oscillations which may occasion her wreck in the first storm,
if the crew persist in working the vessel according to the usual
method, and without obtaining a new balance.”
This day has been rich in materials for my Journal. Besides the
subjects to which I have already alluded, several others were
introduced. When speaking of India and the English East India
Company, the name of M. de Suffren was mentioned.
The Emperor had had no opportunity of forming a correct idea of
the character of this officer: he had heard of his having rendered
important services to his country and for that reason alone, he
(Napoleon) had been very liberal to his family. The Emperor
questioned me respecting Suffren. I had not known him personally,
and therefore I could only report what I had heard of him from other
persons in the navy. It was admitted that, since the time of Louis
XIV., M. de Suffren was the only officer who bore a resemblance to
the distinguished men of the brilliant period of our navy.
Suffren possessed genius, invention, ardour, ambition, and
inflexible steadiness; he was one of those men whom Nature has
fitted for any thing. I have heard very shrewd and sensible persons
say that his death, in the year 1789, might have been looked upon
as a national calamity; that, had he been admitted to the King’s
Council in the critical moment, he might have brought matters to a
very different result. Suffren, who was harsh, capricious, egotistical,
and a very unpleasant companion, was loved by nobody, though he
was valued and admired by all.
He was a man with whom no one could live on good terms. He
was impatient of control, fond of condemning every thing, and, while
he incessantly declaimed against the utility of tactics, he proved
himself to be a perfect tactician. In short, he evinced all the
irritability and restlessness of genius and ambition deprived of
elbow-room.
On obtaining the command of the Indian squadron, he went to
take leave of the King, and one of the officers of the palace could
with difficulty open a passage for him through the crowd. “I thank
you,” said he to the Usher, grunting and snorting in his usual way;
“but when I come out, Sir, you shall see that I know how to clear the
way for myself.” And he spoke truly.
On his arrival in India, he opened a new theatre for the arms of
France, and performed prodigies, which perhaps have not been duly
appreciated in Europe. He set on foot measures and plans of
command hitherto unknown; taking every thing upon himself,
hazarding all, inventing all, and foreseeing all. He broke and created
his officers as he thought proper; fitted out and manned ships that
had long since been condemned; and found a wintering station on
the spot, when, according to the old routine, the ships would have
been obliged to sail to the Isle of France, a distance of twelve or
fifteen hundred leagues. Finally, he broke through all rules,
approached the coast, took on board troops who had been fighting
the old enemy, and, after they had assisted him in opposing the
English squadron, he conveyed them back to their camp, to resume
the contest by land. Thus the French flag assumed a superiority that
disconcerted the enemy. “Oh,” exclaimed the Emperor, “why did not
Suffren live till my time, or why did not I light on a man of his
stamp? I would have made him our Nelson. I was constantly seeking
for a man qualified to raise the character of the French navy; but I
could never find one. There is in the navy a peculiarity, a
technicality, that impeded all my conceptions. If I proposed a new
idea, immediately Ganthaume, and the whole Marine Department,
were up in arms against me.—‘Sire, that cannot be.‘—Why not?
—‘Sire, the winds do not admit of it:’ then objections were started
respecting calms and currents, and I was obliged to stop short. How
is it possible to maintain a discussion with those whose language we
do not comprehend? How often, in the Council of State, have I
reproached naval officers with taking an undue advantage of this
circumstance! To hear them talk, one might have been led to
suppose that it was necessary to be born in the navy to know any
thing about it. Yet I often told them that, had it been in my power to
have performed a voyage to India with them, I should, on my
return, have been as familiar with their profession as with the field
of battle. But they could not credit this. They always repeated that
no man could be a good sailor unless he were brought up to it from
his cradle; and they at length prevailed on me to adopt a plan, about
which I long hesitated, namely, the enrolment of several thousands
of children from six to eight years of age.
“My resistance was vain; I was compelled to yield to the
unanimous voice, while I assured those who urged me to this
measure that I left all the responsibility with them. What was the
result? It excited clamour and discontent on the part of the public,
who turned the whole affair into ridicule, styling it the massacre of
the innocents, &c. Subsequently, De Winter, Verhuel, all the great
naval commanders of the north, and others, assured me that from
eighteen to twenty (the age for the conscription), was early enough
to begin to learn the duties of a sailor. The Danes and Swedes
employ their soldiers in the navy. With the Russians, the fleet is but
a portion of the army; which affords the invaluable advantage of
keeping up a standing army, and for a twofold object.
“I had myself,” added he, “planned something of the kind, when I
created my marines; but what obstacles had I to encounter; what
prejudices had I to subdue; what perseverance was I obliged to
exert, before I could succeed in clothing the sailors in uniform,
forming them into regiments, and drilling them by military exercise! I
was told that I should ruin all. And yet, can there be a greater
advantage than for one country to possess both an army and a
navy? The men, thus disciplined, were not worse sailors than the
rest; while, at the same time, they were the best soldiers. They
were, in case of need, prepared to serve as sailors, soldiers,
artillerymen, pontooners, &c. If, instead of being thus opposed by
obstacles, I had found in the navy a man capable of entering into
my views, and promoting my ideas, what importance might we not
have obtained! But, during my reign, I never found a naval officer
who could depart from the old routine, and strike out a new course.
I was much attached to the navy; I admired the courage and
patriotism of our seamen; but I never found between them and me
an intermediate agent, who could have brought them into operation
in the way I wished.”
NAPOLEON’S IMPERIAL SYSTEM.—PREFECTS.—AUDITORS OF THE COUNCIL OF
STATE.—THE EMPEROR’S MOTIVES IN GRANTING LUCRATIVE
APPOINTMENTS.—HIS FUTURE INTENTIONS.

7th.—Speaking of his imperial system, Napoleon observed that it

had been the means of creating the most compact government,
establishing the most rapid circulation in all its parts, and calling
forth the most nervous efforts that had ever been witnessed. “And
nothing short of this,” said he, “would have enabled us to triumph
over such numerous difficulties, and to achieve so many wonders.
The organization of the Prefectures, their operations, and the results
they produced, were admirable. One and the same impulse was
simultaneously communicated to more than 40,000,000 of men;
and, by the help of those centres of local activity, the movement was
not less rapid and energetic at the extremities than in the heart
itself.
“Foreigners who visited France, and who were capable of
observing and discerning, were filled with astonishment. To this
uniformity of action prevailing over an immense extent of territory,
must be attributed those prodigious efforts and immense results,
which were acknowledged to have been hitherto inconceivable.
“The Prefects, with their local authority and resources, were
themselves Emperors on a small scale. As their whole power
proceeded from the main spring, of which they were only the
communicating channels; as their influence was not personal, but
was derived from their temporary functions; as they had no
connexion with the district over which their jurisdiction extended;
they afforded all the advantages of the great absolute agents of the
old system, without any of their disadvantages. It was necessary to
create this power,” continued the Emperor, “for the force of
circumstances had placed me in the situation of a dictator. It was
requisite that all the filaments issuing from me should be in harmony
with the first cause, or my system would have failed in its result. The
network which I spread over the French territory required a violent
tension and prodigious power of elasticity, in order to cause the
terrible blows that were constantly levelled at us to rebound to a
distance. Thus most of the springs of my machinery were merely
institutions connected with dictatorship, and measures for warlike
defence. When the moment should have arrived for slackening the
reins, all my connecting filaments would have relaxed
sympathetically, and we should then have proceeded to our peace
establishment and local institutions. If we yet possessed none of
these, it was because circumstances did not admit of them. Our
immediate fall would have been the infallible consequence, had we
been provided with them at the outset. It must not be supposed that
the nation was all at once prepared to make a proper use of her
liberty. Both with respect to education and character, the bulk of the
people were imbued with too many of the prejudices of past times.
We were daily improving, but we had yet much to acquire. At the
time of the revolutionary explosion, the patriots, generally speaking,
were such by nature and by instinct: with them patriotism was an
innate sentiment, a passion, a phrensy. Hence the effervescence, the
extravagance, the fury, which marked that period. But it is vain to
attempt to naturalize and mature the modern system by blows or by
leaps. It must be implanted with education, and must take root with
reason and conviction; and this will infallibly take place in the course
of time, because modern principles are founded on natural truths.
But,” added he, “the men of our time were eager for the possession
of power, which they exercised with a domineering spirit, to say no
worse, while, on the other hand, they were ready to become the
slaves of those who were above them!... We have always wavered
between these two extremes. In the course of my journeys, I was
often obliged to say to the high officers who were about my person:
—Pray let the Prefect speak for himself. If I went to some
subdivision of a department, I then found it necessary to say to the
Prefect:—Let the sub-prefect or the mayor make his reply. So eager
were all to eclipse each other, and so little did they perceive the
advantage that might arise from direct communication with me! If I
sent my great officers or ministers to preside at the electoral
colleges, I always advised them not to get nominated as candidates
for the Senate, as their seats were secured to them by other means,
and I wished that they should resign the honour of the nomination
to the principal individuals of the provinces: but they never
conformed with my wishes.”
This reminded me of a misunderstanding that once took place,
between the Emperor and the Minister Decrès, on the subject here
alluded to. The Emperor having expressed displeasure at the
nomination of the minister:—“Sire,” replied the latter, “your influence
is more powerful than your will. I in vain resisted, and assured them
that you wished these nominations to be made among themselves.
They insisted on shewing deference to your choice, and if you send
me back, I shall only be nominated over again.”
“I granted,” said Napoleon, “enormous salaries to Prefects and
others; but, with regard to my liberality on this head, it is necessary
to distinguish between what was systematic and what was
incidental. The latter forced me to grant lucrative appointments; the
former would ultimately have enabled me to obtain gratuitous
services. At the first outset, when the object was to conciliate
individuals, and to re-establish some kind of society and morality,
liberal salaries, absolute fortunes, were indispensable; but, the result
being obtained, and in the course of time the natural order of things
being restored, my intention, on the contrary, would have been to
render almost all high public duties gratuitous. I would have
discarded those needy individuals who cannot be their own masters,
and whose urgent wants engender political immorality. I would have
wrought such a change in opinion that public posts should have
been sought after for the mere honour of filling them. The functions
of magistrate or justice of the peace would have been discharged by
men of fortune, who, being guided solely by duty, philanthropy, and
honourable ambition, would have afforded the surest pledge of
independence. It is this that constitutes the dignity and majesty of a
nation, that exalts her character, and establishes public morals. Such
a change had become indispensable in France, and the dislike of
getting into place might have been considered the forerunner of our
return to political morality. I have been informed that the mania of
place-hunting has crossed the sea, and that the contagion has been
communicated to our neighbours. The English of former days were
as much superior to this kind of meanness as the people of the
United States now are. The love of place is the greatest check to
public morals. A man who solicits a public post feels his
independence sold beforehand. In England, the greatest families,
the whole peerage, disdain not to hunt after places. Their excuse is
that the enormous burdens of taxation deprive them of the means of
living without additions to their income. Pitiful pretence! It is
because their principles are more decayed than their fortunes. When
people of a certain rank stoop to solicit public posts for the sake of
emolument, there is an end to all independence and dignity of
national character. In France, the shocks and commotions of our
Revolution might have afforded an apology for such conduct. All had
been unsettled, and all felt the necessity of re-establishing
themselves. To promote this object, with the least possible offence
to delicacy of feeling, I was induced to attach considerable
emolument and high honour to all public posts. But, in the course of
time, I intended to work a change by the mere force of opinion. And
this was by no means impossible. Every thing must yield to the
influence of power, when it is directed to objects truly just,
honourable, and great.
“I was preparing a happy reign for my son. For his sake I was
rearing in the new school, the numerous class of auditors of the
Council of State. Their education being completed, they would, on
attaining the proper age, have filled all the public posts in the
Empire; thus confirmed in modern principles, and improved by the
example of their precursors. They would all have been twelve or
fifteen years older than my son, who would by this means have been
placed between two generations and all their advantages: maturity,
experience and prudence above him; youth, promptitude, and
activity below him.”
Here I could not refrain from expressing my astonishment that the
Emperor should never have thrown out a hint of the grand and
important objects which he had in contemplation. “What would have
been the use of promulgating my intentions,” said he; “I should have
been styled a quack, accused of insinuation and subtilty, and have
fallen into discredit. Situated as I was, deprived of hereditary
authority, and of the illusion called legitimacy, I was compelled to
avoid entering the lists with my opponents; I was obliged to be bold,
imperious, and decisive. You have told me that in your Faubourg
they used to say, Why is he not legitimate? If I had been so, I
certainly could not have done more than I did; but my conduct
might have appeared more amiable.”

LA VENDÉE.—CHARETTE.—LAMARQUE.—TRAGEDIES OF ÆSCHYLUS AND

SOPHOCLES.—REAL TRAGEDIES AMONG THE ROMANS.—SENECA’S MEDEA.—
SINGULAR FACT.

8th—To-day the Emperor dictated to one of his suite, by which we

were very much gratified, for it was a proof that he felt himself
better.
I attended him after dinner. The exertion of dictating seemed to
have roused his spirits. He was in a very talkative mood; and we
conversed together, walking backward and forward in his chamber.
The troubles of La Vendée, and the men who had been distinguished
in them, formed the principal topics of discourse.
Charette was the only individual to whom the Emperor attached
particular importance. “I have read a history of La Vendée,” said he,
“and if the details and portraits were correct, Charette was the only
great character, the true hero, of that remarkable episode of our
Revolution, which, if it presented great misfortunes, at least did not
sacrifice our glory. In the wars of La Vendée, Frenchmen destroyed
each other; but they did not degrade themselves: they received aid
from foreigners; but they did not stoop to the disgrace of marching
under their banners, and receiving daily pay for merely executing
their commands. Yes,” continued he, “Charette impressed me with
the idea of a great character. I observed that he on several
occasions acted with uncommon energy and intrepidity. He betrayed
genius.” I mentioned that I had known Charette very well in my
youth; had been in the marines together at Brest, and for a long
time we shared the same chamber, and messed at the same table.
The brilliant career and exploits of Charette very much astonished all
who had formerly been acquainted with him. We looked upon him as
a common-place sort of man, destitute of information, ill-tempered,
and extremely indolent; and we all, with one accord, pronounced
him to belong to the class of insignificant beings. It is true that,
when he began to rise into celebrity, we recollected a circumstance
which certainly indicated decision of character. When Charette was
first called into service, during the American war, and while yet a
mere youth, he sailed from Brest in a cutter during the winter. The
cutter lost her mast; and to a vessel of that class such an accident
was equivalent to certain destruction. The weather was very stormy.
Death seemed inevitable; and the sailors, throwing themselves on
their knees, lost all presence of mind, and refused to make any
effort to save themselves. Charette, notwithstanding his extreme
youth, killed one of the men, in order to compel the rest to make the
necessary exertions. This dreadful example had the desired effect,
and the vessel was saved. “You see,” said the Emperor, “true
decision of character always develops itself in critical circumstances.
Here was the spark that distinguished the hero of La Vendée. Men’s
dispositions are often misunderstood. There are sleepers whose
waking is terrible. Kleber was an habitual slumberer; but, at the
needful moment, he never failed to awake, a lion.”
I added that I had often heard Charette relate that, at a particular
moment of extreme danger, the whole crew of the cutter, by a
spontaneous impulse, made a vow to go in their shirts and
barefooted, to carry a taper to our Lady of Recouvrance, at Brest, if
she would vouchsafe to ensure their safety. “And you may believe it
or not as you please,” added Charette with great simplicity: “but the
fact is, they had no sooner uttered their prayer than the wind
suddenly abated, and from that moment we were inspired with the
hope of preservation.” On their return to land, the sailors, headed by
their officers, devoutly fulfilled their vow. This was not the only
miraculous circumstance connected with the little cutter. It was in
the month of December, and the night was long and dark. The
vessel had got among reefs, and, without mast or any nautical aid,
she floated at random, and the crew had resigned themselves to the
will of fate, when they unexpectedly heard the ringing of a bell. They
sounded, and, finding but little depth of water, they cast anchor.
What was their surprise and joy, when they found themselves, at
day-break, at the mouth of the river of Landernau! The bell they had
heard was that of the neighbouring parish church. The cutter had
miraculously escaped the numerous rocks that are scattered about
the entrance of Brest: she had been carried through the narrow inlet
to the port, had passed three or four hundred ships that were lying
in the roads, and had at length found a shelter precisely at the
mouth of a river, in a calm and retired spot. “This,” said the Emperor,
“shews the difference between the blindfold efforts of man, and the
certain course of nature. That at which you express so much
surprise must necessarily have happened. It is very probable that,
with the full power of exerting the utmost skill, the confusion and
errors of the moment would have occasioned the wreck of the
vessel; whereas, in spite of so many adverse chances, nature saved
her. She was borne onward by the tide; the force of the current
carried her precisely through the middle of each channel, so that she
could not possibly have been lost.”
Again alluding to the war of La Vendée, the Emperor mentioned
that he had been withdrawn from the army of the Alps, for the
purpose of being transferred to that of La Vendée; but that he
preferred resigning his commission to entering a service where he
conceived he should only be concurring in mischief, without the
probability of obtaining any personal benefit. He said that one of the
first acts of his Consulate had been to quell the troubles in La
Vendée. He did much for that unfortunate department, the
inhabitants of which were very grateful to him; and when he passed
through it, even the priests appeared to be sincerely favourable to
him. “Thus,” continued the Emperor, “the late insurrections did not
present the same character as the first. Their prominent feature was
not blind fanaticism, but merely passive obedience to a ruling
aristocracy. Be this as it may, Lamarque, whom I sent to La Vendée
at the height of the crisis, performed wonders, and even surpassed
my hopes.” What might not have been his influence in the great
contest; for the most distinguished chiefs of La Vendée, those who
are doubtless at this moment enjoying the favours of the Court,
acknowledged, through Lamarque, Napoleon as Emperor, even after
Waterloo, even after his abdication! Was it that Lamarque was
ignorant of the real state of things, or was it merely a whim on the
part of the conqueror? At all events, Lamarque is in exile: he is one
of the thirty-eight; “because it is easier to proscribe than to
conquer.”
The Emperor dined with us to-day, for the first time since his
illness, that is to say, for the space of sixteen days. Our dinner was
therefore a sort of festival: but we could not help remarking, with
regret, the change in the Emperor’s countenance, which presented
obvious traces of the ill effects of his long confinement.
After dinner we resumed our readings, which had been so long
suspended. The Emperor read the Agamemnon of Æschylus, which
he very much admired for its great force and simplicity. We were
particularly struck with the graduation of terror which characterizes
the productions of this father of tragedy. It was observed that this
was the first spark to which the light of the modern drama may be
traced.
Agamemnon being ended, the Emperor asked for the Œdipus of
Sophocles, which also interested us exceedingly: and the Emperor
expressed his regret at not having had it performed at St. Cloud.
Talma had always opposed the idea; but the Emperor was sorry that
he had relinquished it. “Not,” said he, “that I wished to correct our
drama by antique models. Heaven forbid! But I merely wished to
have an opportunity of judging how far ancient composition would
have harmonized with modern notions.” He said he was convinced
that such a performance would have afforded pleasure; and he
made several remarks on the impression that was likely to be
produced on modern taste by the Greek Coryphæus chorusses, &c.
He next turned to Voltaire’s Œdipus, on which he bestowed high
commendation. This piece, he said, contained the finest scene in the
French Drama. As to its faults, the absurd passion of Philoctetes, for
example, they must not, he said, be attributed to the poet, but to
the manners of the age, and the great actresses of the day, to
whose laws a dramatic writer is obliged to submit. This
commendation of Voltaire rather surprised us: it was something
novel and singular in the mouth of the Emperor.
 At eleven o’clock, after the Emperor had retired to bed, he sent for
me, and resumed his conversation on the ancient and modern
drama; on which he made many curious remarks. In the first place,
he expressed his surprise that the Romans should have had no
tragedies; but then again he observed that tragedy, in dramatic
representation, would have been ill calculated to rouse the feelings
of the Romans, since they performed real tragedy in their circuses.
“The combats of the gladiators,” said he, “the sight of men
consigned to the fury of wild beasts, were far more terrible than all
our dramatic horrors put together. These, in fact, were the only
tragedies suited to the iron nerves of the Romans.”
However, it was observed that the Romans possessed some
dramatic essays, produced by Seneca. By the by, it is a curious fact,
that in Seneca’s Medea, the chorus distinctly predicts the discovery
of America, which took place fourteen hundred years after that
drama was written. In the passage here alluded to, it is said, “A new
Tiphys, a son of the earth, will, in ages to come, discover remote
regions towards the west, and Thule will no longer be the extremity
of the universe.”[5]
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