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    the law of self-defence remains in force , the shooting of the Bourbon duke must be acknowledged to be right and just , under the circumstances stated , and in perfect harmony with the laws of all civilized nations . A fourth charge against Napoleon is , that he was no legislator , and did not merit the encomiums which were granted him on account of his laws . In the midst

    of all the bustle of war and efforts at assassination , a new Code of Laws appeared in France under the title of " Code Napoleon . " This Code has only served to irritate Dr . Channing , who unfortunately can view nothing effected by Na ^ poleon but through a false medium . With reference to other subjects and

    characters the Doctor is , upon the whole , candid and impartial ; but the moment Napoleon ' s name is mentioned , his eye becomes jaundiced and his heart overflows with bile . We shall , however , tell him , because we have facts to support us , that Napoleon first suggested the Code ; that he appointed the learned civilians who were to draw it up ; that

    he assisted at their sittings as often as possible ; that he did more to perfect it by his comprehensive views and pressing logic than all the other gentlemen together ; and that , therefore , it is justly named the " Code Napoleon / ' We view it as infinitely superior either to

    the English or American codes of jurisprudence , both as it regards the correctness of its principles and the clearness and simplicity of its diction . There may be defects in it , for no hnman work is free from imperfection , but there are none that need disturb the repose of the American divine . When he can shew us one

    equal to it either in Europe or America , we shall listen to his philippics , but till then we advise him to look at home . A fifth charge against Napoleon is , that of beiug an usurper . The urging of this by a royalist is natural enough , and what might have been expected ; but it seems very strange from the pen of an American divine and republican . We reply , however , that he was not an usurper , but the legitimate Sovereign of

    the French people . He was their work ; they raised him to the throne and made him their Emperor . The solemn vote of a nation respecting the appointment of their chief magistrate , under whatever title they may appoint him , is legitimate , and the person so elected and elevated is a legitimate sovereign . We observe farther , that the Bourbons are usurpers , because they have not been raised to the throne by the people , but

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    were brought to Paris in the baggage of the enemy , and succeeded in their nefarious purposes by means of nearly a million of foreign bayonets in . direct opposition to the people , of whom they pretend to be the legitimate sovereigns . The people are the source of power , and

    though they delegate it to any person or family for the advantage of the nation , they have still an inalienable right of recalling it , and recurring to first principles when the sovereign abuses his power , violates the laws of his country , or acts in opposition to the wishes of the people whom he governs . Upon these

    principles the British acted when they expelled the Stuarts and called in the Brunswick family ; and they did right . If the doctrine of legitimacy , as now advocated by the partisans of the misnamed Holy Alliance , be correct , it follows that the present reigning family of this country are usurpers , and that the Stuarts are our legitimate sovereigns .

    A sixth charge against Napoleon is , that he was ambitious . We acknowledge that he was so ; but if this be a crime , then every person possessing mental energies , from the lowest peasant or mechanic up to the highest personages in any country , are equally guilty . All are and ought to be ambitious to excel in their respective vocations and situations ; aud we are much mistaken if ambition

    did not form a principal ingredient in the mind of Dr . Channing when he penned his far-famed Analysis . It is this feeling which often inspires the farmer to be superior in agriculture ; the engiueer to make improvements in the arts and sciences ; the philosopher to analyze ; and the prince to govern . He who is without ambition , is a mere drone in society , and not worthy of the name of man . But it has been said that Napoleon ' s ambition was boundless and

    inordinate . If his ambition were bound . less , which is not true , it arose from the vast superiority of his mental energies to those of other men , and the circumstances in which he was placed . If his ambition were inordinate , which we de

    ny , who fanned it ? Who furnished food for its operations ? The very men who have all along declaimed against his ambition . Unjustly attacked as he was on every side by hostile coalitions , trai ~ tors , libellisfcs , and assassins , he must have been more than man to have

    remained quiet and allowed himself aud his country to be sacrificed either by the fury of Jacobinical rage , or the coldblooded but eternal implacability of Bourbon royalism .

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    Miscellaneous Correspondence . 203

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 203, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/51/