North was now virtually at an end. Where
English merchants had so far been able to secure at least half of the
prices obtained from the consumers by smugglers, they could now no
longer secure even that doubtful market at any price; the
incorporation of Holland and the North Sea shores into France left
virtually no opening into Europe for them except through Russia. The
fate of England and of the world seemed to hang on how far the Czar
could or would keep the engagements which he had made at Tilsit.

This might not have been so completely true if the French finances had
been desperate; but they were not--that is, the Emperor's personal
finances were not. After the legislative assembly met in December,
1809, it was soon clear to France that the farce of constitutional
government under the Empire was nearly played out. Not only were the
members of the senate, who should have retired according to the
constitution, kept in their seats by a decree of the body to which
they belonged, but an imperial edict appointed the deputies for the
new departments without even the form of an election. Fontanes retired
from the presidency of the senate to become grand master of the
university; the grand chamberlain of the palace was appointed in his
stead. The Emperor had already sold to private corporations the
canals which belonged to the state; the legislature ratified the
illegal act. The penal code was now ready. It contained the iniquitous
and dangerous penalty of confiscation for certain crimes, thus
punishing the children for the faults of their sires, and opening a
most tempting avenue to the courts for indulgence in venality under
legal forms. There was little debate, and the code was adopted in its
entirety as presented.

The reason for this paralysis of constitutional government is clear.
Even the immense war indemnities taken from conquered states did not
suffice for the maintenance of the enormous armies which covered
Europe like swarms of locusts. The marshals and generals were
insatiate, and the greed of the civil administrators was scarcely
less. From the top to the bottom of the public service every official
stood with open hand and hungry eyes. This state of things was
directly due to Napoleon's policy of attaching everybody to himself by
personal ties, and in giving he had the lavish hand of a parvenu. The
recipients were never content, hoarding their fees, and becoming
opulent, pursuing all the time each his persona