# The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte

THE LIFE OF
Napoleon Buonaparte.
A SELECTION OF
AMUSING AND INSTRUCTIVE
PAMPHLETS;
COMPRISING LIVES OF GREAT WARRIORS & STATESMEN, BATTLES ON SEA & LAND. HISTORIES OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, ACCOUNTS OF WONDERFUL EVENTS, SINGULAR CHARACTERS, and NOTORIOUS OFFENDERS USEFUL FAMILY RECEIPTS, COOKERY, &c. &c.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS,
1828.
By R. Allardice, Leith.
THE LIFE OF Napoleon Buonaparte.
Napoleon Buonaparte, the most celebrated soldier and conqueror in the modern world, was born at Ajaccio in Corsica, on the 15th August 1769, being the second of the five sons of Carlo Buonaparte, by Letitia Ramolini, (since so well known as Madame Mere,) a lady of great personal and mental attractions, by whom he had also three daughters. Carlo Buonaparte had studied law at Rome, but resigning the gown for the sword, he fought under Paoli against the French, and when Corsica surrendered, was reluctantly induced to live under the French government. On this submission, being much noticed by the new governor, the count de Marboeuf, he was appointed judge lateral of the tribunal of Ajaccio; and on his death, (from a cancer in his breast,) at the age of thirty-nine, the protection of the count was ​humanely extended to his widow and family. Under this patronage Napoleon was early sent to France and placed at the military school of Brienne, and thence in 1784 removed to that of Paris, in quality of king's scholar. Here he distinguished himself by his strong desire to excel in the mathematics and military exercises; and began to exhibit some of the strong qualities for which he was a subsequently so remarkable. Studious and reserved, he mixed but little in the sports of his fellow-students, and exhibited that taste for ancient ideas of greatness, and for the Spartan pith and brevity which afterwards, with a dexterous adaptation to the French character, shone so conspicuously in his speeches and bulletins. His propensity to mathematical studies, as connected with the art military, is supposed to have operated against much philological attainment or attention to the belles lettres; but he very honourably passed his examination preparatory to being admitted into the artillery, of which he was appointed a second lieutenant in 1785. After serving a short time, he quitted his regiment and retired to Corsica, but returning to Paris in 1790, he became a captain in 1791; and at the siege of Toulon in 1793, having the command of the artillery, his great soldierly abilities began to develop themselves. He was soon after made general of brigade, and it was to his plans that the republic was indebted for the first successes which it obtained on the Italian frontier. At length, supported by the patronage of Barras, he was appointed to command the conventional troops at Paris, with which he defeated those of the sections in the memorable struggle of the 5th October, 1794. His influence and the impression produced by his character and abilities continually increasing, at the desire of the officers ​and soldiers of the army of Italy, he was appointed to the command of that army, and on the recommendation of his friend and patron, Barras, three days before this departure for Nice, in March 1796, he married Josephine Beauharnois, widow of the count de Beauharnois, who suffered under Robespierre. At this time Buonaparte was only in his twenty-six year, and had never seen a regular engagement in his life but such was his own confidence, and the opinion entertained of his ardour, science, and activity, that he inspired universal reliance. His history as a great captain may be said to have commenced from this moment. The army opposed to him consisted of 60,000 Austrians and Sardinians, commanded by the Austrian general Beaulieu. After several skirmishes he wholly outmanoeuvred the enemy, and in the course of April won the battles of Montenotte, Millesino, and Mondovi, which obliged the king of Sardinia to sign a treaty in his own capital. On the 10th May following he gained the battle of Lodi, the first which fully evinced his courage and great military skill. This conflict put him in possession of Piedmont and the Milanese. The Austrians, obtaining reinforcements, now made great exertions to compel the French to raise the siege of Mantua. The activity and ascendancy of Buonaparte however rendered all their exertions fruitless; his central position afforded him the opportunity of engaging and defeating the opposing armies under Wurmser and Alvinzi, one after the other, and Mantua capitulated. In the mean time the pope, the king of Naples, and the minor Italian princes were compelled to make peace with great sacrifices, but the Austrians still persevering, under the able command of archduke Charles, Buonaparte penetrated through Friuli into ​Germany, and advanced within thirty leagues of Vienna. Not however being adequately seconded by the French armies on the Rhine, his situation became critical; and with the policy which knows as well when to treat as to light, he promptly proposed negociations; and this memorable campaign terminated in the treaty of Leoben, the preliminaries of which were signed on the 16th April, 1797. This treaty left France in possession of Belgium and other conquests, and established a recognised republic in Italy. Before these preliminaries were ratified, Buonaparte declared war against the republic of Venice, which could make little resistance, and took rapid possession of the fleet; alschals, treasure, and territory of this once famous state. After making some arrangements in regulation of the Cisalpine republic, which he had established at Milan, he signed the definitive treaty with the Austrians at Campo Formio, and returned to Paris, where of coarse he was received with great respect and rejoicing. He was now nominated general-in-chief of an expedition against England, apparently a mere demonstration, as that against Egypt was at this time in preparation. On the 19th May, 1798, Buonaparte sailed from Toulon with a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, as many Frigates, and an immense number of transports, with 40,000 troops on board, the flower of the French army.
Having briefly stated the rise of this extraordinary man into military eminence, our remaining notices of his military career must be very general. The events of his Egyptian campaign form a very interesting part of our own annals, in the great victory of Aboukir by sea, and the noble defence of Acre by land. As illustrative of the character of Buonaparte, it exhibited him with his usual ​personal ascendancy in the field, while a number of strong measures evinced, more or less favourably, his fertility of expedient and strong determination. Of these, his affectation of Mahometan views, and his military execution of the Turkish prisoners at Jaffa, have been most condemned. The latter, although sanctioned, we believe by the rules of war on flagrant breaches of parole, was doubtless a very, sanguinary act; but it is absurd and ignorant to assert with some silly journalists, that it is unprecedented in modern history. From this critical field of action. Buonaparte released himself with his usual decision and activity; having received information of the disasters experienced by the republican armies in Italy and Germany, as also of the disordered state of parties in France, he took measures for secretly embarking in August 1799, and accompanied by a few officers, entirely devoted to him, he landed at Frejus in October following, and hastened to Paris. He immediately addressed a letter to the Directory, justifying the measures which he had pursued, and replying to the censures on the Egyptian expedition. This was evidently the period of his life, that formed the tide, which as Shakspeare observes, when "taken at the flood leads on to fortune. Courted by all parties, and by Sieyes and Barras, at that time the leading men of the government, the latter, who seems to have entertained an idea of restoring the monarchy, confided his plan to Buonaparte, who however had other objects in view. After many conferences with Sieyes and the leading members of the council of ancients, on whom he could rely, he disclosed his own projects, the consequence of which was the removal of the sitting of the legisleture to St Cloud, and the devolvement to Buonaparte of the command of the troops of every de​scription, in order to protect the national representation On the 19th November the meeting accordingly took place at St Cloud, when soldiers occupied all the avenues. The council of ancients assembled in the galleries; and that of five hundred, whom Lucien Buonaparte was president, in the orangery. Buonaparte entered into the council of ancients, and made an animated speech in defence of his own character, and called upon them to exert them elves in behalf of liberty and equality. In the mean time a violent altercation took place in the council of five hundred, where several members insisted upon knowing why the meeting had been removed to St Cloud, Lucien Buonaparte endeavoured to allay the rising storm, but the removal had created great heat, and the cry was, "down with the dictator! no dictator!" At that moment Buonaparte himself entered, followed by four grenadiers, on which several of the members exclaimed, "what does this mean? no sabres here! no armed men!" while others descending into the hall, collared him, exclaiming, "outlaw him, down with the dictator!" On this rough treatment, general Lefebvre came to his assistance, and Buonaparte retiring, mounted his horse, and leaving Murat to observe what was going forward, sent a picket of grenadiers into the hall. Protected by this force Lucien Buonaparte declared that the representatives who wished to assassinate his brother were in the pay of England, and proposed a decree which was immediately adopted, "That general Buonaparte, and all those who had seconded him, deserved well of their country; that the Directory was at an end; and that the executive power should be placed in the hands of three provisionary consuls, namely, Buonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos." Such was the Cromwelhan ​extinction of the French Directory, which was followed by the constitution, called that of the year eight; in which Buonaparte was confirmed first consul and Cambaceres and Le Brun assistant consuls. The same commission created a senate, a council of state, a tribunate, and a legislative body.
It was a remarkable trait in the character of Buonaparte, that on the attainment of any striking ascendancy, he always stopped into action with confidence and conscious superiority. On the present occasion he prepared for the prosecution of the war with his usual vigour and energy. Leaving Paris in April 1800, he proceeded with a well appointed army for Italy, passed the Great St Bernard by an extraordinary march, and bursting into that country, like a torrent, utterly, defeated the Austrians under general Melas at Maringo, on the 14th of the following June. This battle and that of Hohenlinden, a second time enabled him to dictate terms of peace to Austria, the result of which was the treaty of Luneville with that power, and ultimately that of Amiens with Great Britain, concluded in March 1802. All these successes advanced him another step in his now evident march to sovereignty, by securing him the consulate for life, a measure which excited great dissatisfaction in Great Britain, and contributed, together with the disputes concerning Malta and the treatment of Switzerland, to a rapid renewal of hostilities, the cessation of which had been little more than a truce.
The despair of the friends of the Bourbons at the increasing progress of Buonaparte towards sovereign sway, at this time produced an endeavour at assassination by the explosion of a machine filled with combustibles, as he passed in his ​carriage through the Rue St Nicaise, from which danger be very narrowly escaped. This plan failing, it as usual served the intended victim, by enabling him to execute and transport several personal enemies; as also to venture upon the strong measure of the seizure and military execution of the duke of Enghien, which he justified, as similar sanguinary proceedings have frequently been justified, by state necessity, and the law of self-preservation. He was doubtless surrounded at the time with dangerous and implacable enemies, rendered desperate by his exaltation, Pichegru and Moreau, Georges, the two counts de Polignac, and forty-three more were arrested, of whom Pichegru died in prison ; Georges and eleven more suffered on the scaffold, and Moreau was exiled and departed for America. These ill-concerted intrigues hastened the grand event which they were destined to avert, and addresses were got up all over France, calling upon the first consul "to accept the crown of Charlemagne." He affected none of the reluctance of Cæsar, but aware that the French were not Romans at once acquiesced in the splendid proposal, which was confirmed by a degree of the senate, dated 18th May, 1804.
On the 21 December following he was crowned emperor of France in the church of Notre Dame in Paris, by the hands of pope Pius VI, whom he obliged to come in person from Rome to perform the ceremony. He was immediately recognised by the emperors of Austria and Russia, and by the kings of Prussia, Spain, and Denmark; the king of Sweden alone refusing. The popular form of the Cisalpine republic being incompatible with the new order of things, he now proclaimed himself king of Italy; and Great Britain being his sole ​enemy of magnitude, on the 7th of August he published a manifesto, announcing an invasion of England, and assembling a numerous flotilla at Boulogne, formed a camp in the neighbourhood, of 200,000 men. The battle of Trafalgar on the 21st October put an end to this scheme, if ever seriously determined upon, by destroying the greater part of the French navy, and instead of invading England, the assembled army was turned against Germany, once more excited to premature hostilities. In less than six weeks the pretended army of England was on the banks of the Danube, and the capitulation of general Mack at Ulm was the rapid consequence. On the 11th November, 1805, the French army entered Vienna, which Francis II, had quitted a few days before, to retire with a remnant of his army into Moravia, where the emperor Alexander joined him with a Russian army, which he commanded in person. Napoleon encountered the two emperors on the plains of Austerlitz the 2d of December, where the great military talents of the French leader again prevailed, and the treaty of Presburgh followed, which recognised him king of Italy, master of Venice, of Tuscany, of Parma, of Placentia, and of Genoa. Prussia also ceded the grand duchy of Berg, which he gave to Murat; and in exchange for Hanover, the margravate of Anspach, which he assigned to Bavaria, cementing the chain of intermarriages with his relatives, which he meditated by ng his adopted son, Eugene Beauharnois, to a princess of that family.
He now also began to assume the lofty power of regulating and creating dynastics, and promoting the minor princes around him from one grade to another. The electors of Bavaria, of Wirtemburg, and Saxony were transformed into kings; the ​crown of Naples, was bestowed on his brother Joseph, that of Holland on Louis, and that of Westphalia, on Jerome; the republican Lucien declining every gift of this nature.
In July 1806, he ratified at Paris the famous treaty of the confederation of the Rhine, in which he transferred to himself the preponderancy previously enjoyed by the house of Austria. In the month of September following the demanded from his new allies levies of men, and by his conduct in respect to Hanover, and his military movements, once more goaded. Prussia into the resistance of despair. A powerful Prussian army was again got together, and that wretched campaign ensued which ended in the decisive battle of Jena, fought on the 14th October 1806, the consequence of which defeat was more fatal than the defeat itself. A sort of moral consternation for mental paralysis followed; strong plates opened their gates while occupied by numerous forces, at the first summons, and entire armies submitted without a blow. In short, all the Prussian states were occupied in less than a month, and the Prussian family, especially the king and queen, were doomed to entertain a personal enemy, conqueror, and absolute dictator, very much like the most common of his courtiers At this time France might be said to be mistress of civilized Europe, with the exception of Great Britain, the result of which domination was the famous Berlin decree, in which all commercial intercourse with England was strictly forbidden; a vain but harrassing expedient, which was doomed in the end to lead to the demolition of the factitious power, which attempted it. The severe campaign against Russia succeeded, in which were fought the battles of Pultusk, and Friedland, and which ended in the treaty of Tilsit. This celebrated ​agreement was preceeeded by an interview between Napoleon and Alexander, on a raft in the river Niemen, where the two emporers met and embraced, as did their officers and attendant soldiers in imitation. The conclusion of the treaty on the 7th July 1807, by which Russia and Prussia engaged to keep their ports closed against the English, and to adhere to the continental blockade, followed this cordial salutation.
Napoleon now turned his attention to Spain, and affected to meet the king and his son Ferdinand at Bayonne, to adjust their family differences. The result was the abdication of Charles IV, and the forced resignation of Ferdinand, who was most treacherously and indetensibly made a captive, on a general plea, which, if admitted, would put an end at once to the theory of national independence, but which, while truly denounced wicked on the part of Napoleon, has been closely imitated by his successors. He they sent an army of 30,000 men into Spain, and soon seized all the strong places, and being in possession of Madrid, he suppressed the convents and all the religious orders throughout the kingdom. On the 25th October 1808, he announced, that with the assistance of God, he intended to crown his brother king of Spain at Madrid, and to plant the eagles of France on the towers of Lisbon. The Spaniards nevertheless tenaciously, if not skilfully, resisted; and Napoleon leaving the pursuit of the English army under Sir John Moore to marshal Soult, returned to Paris. As the object of this abridgment is to follow the personal movements, rather than the general progress of his wars, no attempt will be made to describe the desultory hostilities, so honourable to British skill and valour, which followed in Spain and Portugal. The next aggression of ​Napoleon deprived the pope of the provinces of Urbitro, Macerata, and Ancona, for declining to wage war against the British, and he finished by a decree dated 17th May 1809, that deprived his holmess of all sovereign authority, and constituted Rome a free imperial city.
Encouraged by the occupation of a large French army in Spain, Austria on the 6th of April in this year, a third time ventured to declare war ägainst France; on which Napoleon quitted Paris on the 16th of the same month, and heading his army fought the battles of Landshut, Eckmuhl, Ratisbonne, and Neumark, between that date and the 10th of May, on which day he once more entered Vienna. The occupation of that capital did not terminate the campaign, for on the 21st of the same month was fought the Bloody and indecisive battle of Essling, in which, after great loss, Napoleon was obliged to retreat to the island of Lobau. The archduke Charles was however too much crippled to follow up his success, and the French being reinforced, the decisive victory of Wagram was gained on the 5th and 6th July: on the 12th a suspension of arms was agreed upon, and on the 14th of the ensuing October, a definitive treaty of peace was concluded, one of the secret conditions of which soon became apparent by preparations commencing for the dissolution of the marriage of the conqueror with Josephine.
That marriage, for the reasons stated-little more than the want of issue, and the alleged welfare of France-being annulled by the senate, Josephine, with the title of ex-empress, retired to Navarre, a seat thirty miles from Paris, and on the 2d April 1816, Napoleon espoused the arch-duchess Maria Lonisa, daughter of the emperer Francis II. Soon after this marriage, he united ​to France the provinces situated on the left bank of the Rhine, and by a decree of the 13th December in the same year, Holland, the three Hanseatic cities of Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lubec, and a part of Westphalia, were added to the empire; as also by another decree, the Valais, so little did he now conceal his views of an universal French empire.
In March 1811, as it all his wishes were to be, gratified, a son was born to him, whom he christened Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, and called king of Rome, Aware of the discontent of Russia, and of her intention to resist the first favourable opportunity, towards the end of the year 1811 he began those mighty, preparations for the invasion of that empire, which formed the nucleus of the greatest array of disciplined and able soldiery which ever moved under one command and in one direction.
In May 1812, he left Paris to review the grand army, made up of all his auxiliaries and confederates, (willing and unwilling,) assembled on the Vistula, and arriving at Dresden spent fifteen days in that capital, attended by the emperor of Austria, the king of Prussia, and nearly the whole of the princes of the Continent, among whom he moved the primum mobile and the centre. This eventful campaign against Russia may be said to have opened on the 22d June, on which day he issued a proclamation, wherein, with his usual oracular brevity, he declared that his " destinies were about to be accomplished.” On the 28th June he entered Wilua, where he established a provisional government, while he assembled a general diet at Warsaw. In the mean time the French army continued its march, and passed the Niemen on the 23d, 24th, and 25th June, arriving ​at Witepsk on the way to Smolensko in the early part of July. In the march it obtained several victories, and the Russians finding their enemy tool powerful in open contest, contented themselves for the most part in wasting the country, and adding to the severities and operation of the Russian climate upon a southern soldiery. The French army however undauntedly proceeded, until arriving near Moscow on the 10th September, the famous battle of Borodino was fought, so fatal to both parties, and in which 60,000 are supposed to have perished. Napoleon notwithstanding pressed our to Moscow, from which the Russians retreated, as also the greater part of the inhabitants; who abandoned it by order of the governor, count Rostopchin. When therefore Napoleon entered the celebrated capital, four days after the battle, he found it for the greater part deserted and in flames. This strong measure of which Russia possibly deems it impolitie to take the credit, saved the Russian empire, by completely destroying the resources of Napoleon. After remaining thirty-five day's in the ruins of this ancient metropolis, exposed to every species of privation, retreat became necessary, and one of the most striking scenes of human suffering was experienced by the retreating army, ever produced by the unfeeling extravagances of ambition. Hunger, cold, and the sword attended the wretched fugitives all the way to Poland. Detail within these limits would be impossible, it must therefore suffice to add, that arriving at Warsaw on the 10th December, on the 18th of the same month Napoleon entered Paris at night, and on the following day a bulletin, with nu great concealment of their extent, disclosed his immense losses Early the next month he presented to the senate a decree for levying 350,000 men which was unani​mously agreed to, and he forth with began preparations to encounter the forces of Russia and Prussia, now once more in combination. On the 2d May, he encountered the armies of these allies at Lutzen, and forced them to retire, on which Austria undertook to mediate, but not succeeding, the battle of Bautzen followed, in which the French were victorious.
On the 26th May an armistice took place, and negociations were opened, which proved fruitless and Austria was at length induced to join the allies. On this important event Napoleon endeavoured to reach Berlin, while the allies sought to occupy Dresden, which attempt induced him to return and repulse them in the battle of Dresden, on which occasion, Morean, who came from America to fight under the banner of the confederates, was mortally wounded. At length these equivocal contests terminated in the famous battle of Leipsic, fought on the 16th, 18th, and 19th of October, which was decisive of the war as to Germany. The French loss was immense; prince Poniatowski of Poland was killed, fifteen general officers were wounded, and twenty three taken prisoners; and of 184,000 men, opposed to 300,000, not more than 60,000 remained. On this great victory, the Saxons, Bavarians, Westphalians, in a word, all the contingent powers declared for the allies.
Napoleon returned to Paris, and interrupted the compliment of address by thus stating the disagreeable fact that is "within the last year, all Europe marched with us, now, all Europe is leagued against us." He followed up this avowal by another demand of 800,000 men. The levy was granted, and on the 26th January, he again headed his army, and the allies having passed the Rhine early in the same month, in the succeeding month ​of February were fought the battles of Dizier, Brienne, Champ Aubert, and Montmirai, with various success; but now the advanced guard of the Russians entered into action, and Napoleon was called to another quarter. The sanguinary conflicts of Montereau and Nogent followed, in which the allied forces suffered severely, and were obliged to retire upon Troyes. Early in March the treaty of alliance was concluded between England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by which each was bound not to make peace but upon certain, conditions. This was signed at Chatillon on the 15th March, and made known to Napoleon, who refused the terms. His plan was now to get into the rear of the combined army, and by this manoeuvre to endeavour to draw them off from Paris, but the allies gaining possession of his intention by an intercepted letter, lastened their progress, and on the 30th March attacked the heights of Chaumont, from which they were repulsed with great loss. At length, however, their extensive array, bore on so many paints, that on the French being driven back on the barriers of Paris, marshal Marmont, why commanded there, sent a flag of truce, and proposed to deliver up the city. Napoleon hastened from Fontainbleau, but was apprised five leagues from Paris of the result, he accordingly returned to Fontainbleau, where he commanded an army of 50,000 men, and the negociation ensued, which terminated with his consignment to the island of Elba, with the title of ex-emperor, and a pension of two millions of livres He displayed no unbecoming want of firmness on this occasion, and on the 20th April, after embracing the officer commanding the attendant grenadiers of his guard, and the imperial eagles, he departed to his destination.
It is unnecessary to detail the events of his brief ​residence in this island, in which he was visited by many curious Englishmen and others. It is probable that he never meant to remain in that equivocal situation, or the allies to allow him. Be this as it may, secretly embarking in some hired feluccas, accompanied with about 1,200 men, on the night of the 25th February 1915, he landed on the 1st of March in the gulf of Juan, in Provence, at three o'clock in the afternoon. He immediately issued a proclamation, announcing his intention to resume his crown, of which, "treason had robbed him," and procecding to Grenoble, was at once welcomed by the commanding officer Labedoyere, and in two days after he entered Lyons, where he experienced a similar reception. La Lyons he proceeded formally to reassume all the functions of sovereignty by choosing councillors, generals, and prefects, and publishing various decrees, one of which was for abolishing the noblesse, of whom the restored family had already made the French people apprehensive, and another proscribing the race of Bourbon. Thus received and favoured, he reached Paris on the 20th March without drawing a sword. In the capital he was received with loud acclamations of "vive l' empereur!” and was joined by marshal Ney, and the generals Drouet, Lallemand, and Lehfevre. On the following day he reviewed his army, received general congratulations, and announced the return of the empress.
On opening the assembly of Representatives, on the 7th June following, he talked of establishing a constitutional monarchy, but by this time the allies were once more in motion, and having collected an immense supply of stores and ammunition, he quitted Paris on the 12th of the same month, to march and oppose their progress. He arrived on the 13th at Avesues, and on the 14th and 16th ​fought the partially successful battles of Fleurns and Ligny. On the 18th occurred the signal and well-known victory of Waterloo, in which British. intrepidity made so successful a stand under the Duke of Wellington, until aided into decisive victory by the timely arrival of the Prussians. under Bulow.
The conduct of marshal Grouchy. commanding the French reserve, was deemed doubtful on this occasions but the conquered, frequently make these allegations, and it is quite as likely that, the moral operation of success having passed away, similar distrust and want of confidence began to pervade the French armies, to that which had formerly distinguished those of the allies. In the battle, out of 95,000 men, it is thought that the French lost nearly 50,000. Napoleon immediately returned to Paris, but the charm was now utterly dissolved; and, şoured by the result of the battle, and fearing another occupation of the capital, a strong party, was openly formed against him, and even his friends urged him to abdicate. He was prevailed upon at length, with some difficulty, to take this step in favour of his son It need not be said that all this sort of expedient was now too late, and that the fate of this once all-powerful chieftain drew to its tristful termination For some time he entertained the idea of embarking for America, but fearful of British cruizers, he at length determined to throw himself on the generosity of the only people who had never materially yielded to his influence. He accordingly resigned himself, on the 15th July, into the hands of Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, then lying at Rochefort, and was exceedingly anxious to land in England. On giving himself up, he addressed the Prince Regent in a well-known letter, in which he compared himself to Themistocles. ​It is impossible to dwell on the minutae of his conduct and reception, or to the circumstances attendant on his consignment for safe custody to St. Helena, by the joint determination of the allies. For this his final destination, he sailed on the 11th August, 1815, and arrived at St Helena on the 18th of the following October. The rest of his life is little more than a detail of gradual bodily decay; rendered however strikingly amusing by the narrative of his remarks, conversation, and literary employment, among the few faithful courriers and officers allowed to accompany him. These are at in the highest degree characteristic; nor, with the exception of some querulous resentment of what he deemed degrading and unnecessary restriction and suspicion, dues he appear to have conducted himself below his great powers of mind. The multifarious publications descriptive of his treatment and deportment under it, render all further attempt at description here superfluous; suffice it therefore to say that while a vast majority deem his detention a justifiable piece of state necessity, opinion is much more divided as to the propriety of a portion of the restrictions, in regard to the receipts of newspapers, portraits, friendly memorials, &c. which could operate in no way to his release. Possibly, indeed, looking to various minor indications, an involuntary conviction of a want of a little governing equanimity and good sense in St Helena; strikes most of those who read these curious details! Leaving this to opinion, it appears probable that mental affliction, added to unhealthy climate, began to operate fatally on the constitution of Buonaparte from the hour of his arrivals as nearly the whole of the four years and upwards, while he remained there, he was sickly and diseased. His ultimate complaint was a cancer ​in his breasts apparently a disease to which he had a constitutional tendeney, as his father died of a similar malady. He bore the excruciating torture of his disorder, for six weeks with great firmness, generally keeping his eyes fixed on a portrait of his son, which was placed near his bed. From the beginning he refused medicine as useless; and the last words, uttered in a state of delirum, on the morning of his death, were "Mon fils!" soon afterwards, "tête d'armee!? and lastly " France." This event took place on the 5th May, 1821, in the fifty-second year of his age. He was interred, according to his own desire, near some willow trees and a spring of water, at a place called Haine's Valley, his funeral being attended by the highest military honours.
Thus terminated the eventful and dazzling career of Napoleon Buonaparte, one of those extraordinarily gifted individuals, who falling into a period and course of circumstances adapted to their peculiar, genius, exhibit the capacity of human nature in the highest point of view. It is useless to apologize for the imperfection of what must necessarily be a mere sketch, bit possibly a rapid view of personal, rather than of general events, may give a better off hand impression of a career like that of Buonaparte, than more minute and elaborate detail, passing as it does as rapidly across the mind, as he himself passed across his eventful existence. It will he obvious, even from this inadequate glance, that his distinguishing characteristics were decision, self-reliance, energy, and promptitude of action all soldierly qualities, but mixed up in him with a clearness of discernment, and a facility of calculating and combining physical results, which for at once the incentive and mainspring of prosperous enterprise. As a soldier, ​findeed, he exhibited the highest order of genius- that of invention. He conceived a new mode o warfare; founded on a scientific and rapid movement of vast masses; which, until practised are understood by his opponents, rendered him almos necessarily victorious. He, in fact, altogether changed the modern art of war; and as we have seen, he long profited by the priority of discovery Looking at the moral complexion of his intellectuality, it is evident that the common selfishness of ambition actuated him; and that, like most fortunate soldiers, the glory attendant upon domination and mastery, dazzled him more than the nobler species, which gives such a fine lustre to the names of Washington and Bolivar. His abolition of monkery and fanaticism, wherever he could reach them; his removal of all the remnants of feudal servitude; and his completion of an adequate and estimable code of laws, regulative of justice between man and man; are all compatible with the most selfish ambition, such improvements being the interest of every order of ruler, if the blindness of despotism could be made to think so.
His person, thin in youth, and somewhat corpulent in age, was rather delicate than robust in outward appearance, but east in the mould most capable of enduring privation and fatigue. He rode ungracefully; and without the command of his horse which distinguishes a perfect cavalier; so that he showed to disadvantage when riding beside such a horseman as Murat. But he was fearless, sat firm in his seat, rode with rapidity, and was capable of enduring the exercise for a longer time than most men.
The countenance of Napoleon is familiar to almost every one from description, and the portraits which are found every where. The dark brown ​air bore little marks of the attentions of the toilet. The shape of the countenance approached more than is usual in the human race to a square. His eyes were grey, and full of expression, the pupils rather large, and the eye-brows not very strongly marked. The brow and upper part of the countenance was rather of a stern character. His nose and mouth were beautifully formed. The upper lip was very short. The teeth were indifferent, but were little shown in speaking. His smile assessed uncommon sweetness, and is stated to have been irresistible. The complexion was a clear olive, otherwise in general colourless. The prevailing character of his countenance was grave, even to melancholy, but without any signs of severity or violence. After death, the placidity and dignity of expression which continued to occupy the features, rendered them eminently beautiful, and the admiration of all who looked on them.
His personal and private character, was decidedly amiable, excepting in one particular His temper, when he received, or thought he received, provocation, especially if of a personal character, was men warm and vindictive. He was, however, placable in the case even of his enemies, providing that they submitted to his mercy; but he had not that species of generosity, which respects the sincerity of a manly and fair opponent. On the other hand, no one was a more literal rewarder of the attachment of his friends. He was an excellent husband, a kind relation, and, unless when state policy, intervened, a most affectionate brother.
There was gentleness, and even softness, in his character. He was affected when he rode over the fields of battle, which his ambition had strewed with the dead and the dying, and seemed not only ​desirous to relieve the victims,-issuing for the purpose directions, which too often were not, a could not be obeyed,-but showed himself subject to the influence of that more acute and imaginative species of sympathy which is termed sensibility He mentions a circumstance which indicates a dee sense of feeling. As he passed over a field battle in Italy, with some of his generals, he saw houseless dog lying on the body of his slain master The creature came towards them, then returned to the dead body, moaned over it pitifully, an seemed to ask their assistance. "Whether it we the feeling of the moment," continued Napoleon "the scene, the hour, or the circumstance itself, was never so deeply affected by anything which I have seen upon a field of battle. That man, thought, has perhaps had a house, friends, comrades, and here he lies deserted by every one but his dog. How mysterious are the impressions: which we are subject! I was in the habit, without emotion, of ordering battles which must decide the fate of a campaign, and could look with a dry eye on the execution of manoeuvres which must b attended with much loss, and here I was move -nay painfully affected-by the cries and the grief of a dog. It is certain that at that moment should have been more accessible to a suppliant enemy, and could better understand the conduct of Achilles in restoring the body of Hector to the tears of Priam." The anecdote at once shows the Napoleon possessed a heart amenable to human feeling, and that they were usually in total subjection to the stern precepts of military stoicism It was his common and expressive phrase, that the heart of a politician should be in his head but his feelings sometimes surprised him in gentler mood.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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