Says Theirs. "This plan was not,
on his part, the inspiration of ambition, but rather of great good
sense. His views on this occasion were unquestionably both pure and
exalted." But nothing can more strikingly show the almost miraculous
energies of Napoleon's mind, and his perfect self-reliance, than
the readiness with which, in addition to the cares of the Empire of
France, he assumed the responsibility of organizing and developing
another nation of five millions of inhabitants. This was in 1802.
Napoleon was then but thirty-three years of age.
To have surrendered those Italians, who had rallied around the
armies of France in their hour of need, again to Austrian domination,
would have been an act of treachery. To have abandoned them, in their
inexperience, to the Jacobin mob on the one hand, and to royalist
intrigues on the other, would have insured the ruin of the Republic.
But by leaving the details of government to be administered by
Italians, and at the same time sustaining the constitution by his
own powerful hand, there was a probability that the republic might
attain prosperity and independence.
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