Lucien Bonaparte, Minister of the Interior on the Mission of the Prefects, (1800)
Source: Martyn Lyons, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution (London: Macmillan, 1994), 70. Currently published in the United States by St. Martins Press. Excerpted in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, Jack R. Censer and Lynn Hunt, eds. (American Social History Productions, 2001).
This post demands a wide range of duties, but it offers you great rewards in the future: you have been summoned to assist the government in its noble design to restore France to her ancient splendor, to revive in her all that is great and generous, and to establish this magnificent edifice on the unshakable foundations of liberty and equality… You will not be called upon to carry out the whims or passing desires of a fickle government, unstable in its operation, and anxious about its future. Your first task is to destroy irrevocably, in your department, the influence of those events which for too long have dominated our minds. Do your utmost to bring hatred and passion to an end, to extinguish rancor, to blot out the painful memories of the past.…In your public decisions, and even in your private lives, be always the first magistrate of your department, never the man of the revolution. Do not tolerate any public reference to the labels which still cling to the diverse political parties of the revolution; merely consign them to that most deplorable chapter in the history of human folly.…You will receive from the War Minister all the instructions necessary for the administrative responsibilities within his jurisdiction. I will simply limit myself to a reminder to apply yourself immediately to the conscription draft.…I give special priority to the collection of taxes: their prompt payment is now a sacred duty. Agriculture, trade, the industries and professions must resume their honored status. Respect and honor our farmers.…Protect our trade, whose freedom can never have any limit except the public interest.…Visit our manufactures; bestow your highest compliments on those distinguished citizens engaged in them.…Encourage the new generations; fix your attention on public education, and the formation of Men, Citizens, and Frenchmen.