Measured Government
To Napoleon, the way that politicians in Paris had forced metric measurements on the public was a lesson in bad government.
1824
King George IV 1820-1830
To Napoleon, the way that politicians in Paris had forced metric measurements on the public was a lesson in bad government.
1824
King George IV 1820-1830
Napoleon Bonaparte’s frustration at the way that metres and kilos were forced on the people of France following the Revolution of 1789 has often been quoted with grim amusement by those who lament the passing of yards and ounces. And yet the lesson he was teaching us has rarely been taken to heart, either by his critics or his admirers, though it applies in so many areas of our common life.
THE weights and measures were one of the principal affairs of the Directory.* Instead of leaving time to work the change, and merely encouraging the new system by all the power of example and fashion, they made compulsory laws, and had them rigorously executed.
Merchants and citizens found themselves harassed about matters which were in themselves indifferent; and this increased the unpopularity of a government which placed itself above the wants and the reach of the people, infringing their usages, habits, and customs with all the violence that might have been expected from a Greek or Tartar conqueror, who, with the staff in his hand, insists upon obedience to all his commands, which are dictated only by his own prejudices and interests, to the total exclusion of those of the vanquished.
The new system of weights and measures will be a subject of embarrassment and difficulties for several generations; and it is probable that the first learned commission employed to verify the measure of the meridian will find it necessary to make some corrections. Thus are nations tormented about trifles!
* The Directory (le Directoire) was a committee of five that ruled France from November 2nd, 1795, until November 9th, 1799. It was this committee that was overthrown by Napoleon in his bloodless Coup of 18 Brumaire, Year VIII (November 9th, 1799). Napoleon assumed the title of First Consul of France, and was crowned Emperor of the French on December 2nd, 1804, having assumed the title the previous May. Thanks to Napoleon’s breathtaking conquests right across Europe, since May 1803 Britain and France had been at war.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The Directory devised in new weights and measures. They imposed them by law. Napoleon did not approve.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
ICriticise. IIMistake. IIIUnwise.