lf, obeyed his behests. And all this prodigious
expansion had been accomplished at little apparent cost to France
herself; for the victors' bill had been very largely met out of the
resources of the conquered territories. It is true that her nobles and
clergy had suffered fearful losses in lands and treasure, while her
trading classes had cruelly felt the headlong fall in value of her
paper notes: but in a land endowed with a bounteous soil and climate
such losses are soon repaired, and the signature of the peace with
England left France comparatively prosperous. In October the First
Consul also concluded peace with Russia, and came to a friendly
understanding with the Czar on Italian affairs and the question of
indemnities for the dispossessed German Princes.[175]

Bonaparte now strove to extend the colonies and commerce of France, a
topic to which we shall return later on, and to develop her internal
resources. The chief roads were repaired, and ceased to be in the
miserable condition in which the abolition of the _corvees_ in 1789
had left them: canals were dug to connect the chief river systems of
France, or were greatly improved; and Paris soon benefited from the
construction of the Scheldt and Oise canal, which brought the
resources of Belgium within easy reach of the centre of France. Ports
were deepened and extended; and Marseilles entered on golden vistas of
prosperity soon to be closed by the renewal of war with England.
Communications with Italy were facilitated by the improvement of the
road between Marseilles and Genoa, as also of the tracks leading over
the Simplon, Mont Cenis, and Mont Genevre passes: the roads leading to
the Rhine and along its left bank also attested the First Consul's
desire, not only to extend commerce, but to protect his natural
boundary on the east. The results of this road-making were to be seen
in the campaign of Ulm, when the French forces marched from Boulogne
to the Black Forest at an unparalleled speed.

Paris in particular felt his renovating hand. With the abrupt,
determined tones which he assumed more and more on reaching absolute
power, he one day said to Chaptal at Malmaison:

"I intend to make Paris the most beautiful capital of the world: I
wish that in ten years it should number two millions of
inhabitants." "But," replied his Minister of the Interior, "one
cannot improvise population; ... as it is, Paris would scarcely
support one million