The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-16 00:00:00

BONAPARTE AT ST. CLOUD-HIS CON

TEMPT OF MANKIND-31R. FOX.

It was in the year 1802 that Bonaparte first
took up his quarters at St. Cloud. He was very
partial to his residence, because he enjoyed
greater liberty there than at the Tuilleries, the
palace of which is nothing more than a royal
prison, in which it is not possible for a sovereign
to breathe a little fresh air at a window without
immediately becoming the object of curiosity to
numerous groups of the public. At St. Cloud,
on the contrary, Bonaparte might begin his air-
ings from the very door of his cabinet, and might
extend them as much as lie pleased without
being importuned by suitors. One of his first
cares was the repair of the cross-road from St.
Cloud to Malmaison. The distance between
these two places he used to traverse on horse-
back within a quarter of an hour. The proxi-
mity to his favourite spot increased still further
his attachment to St. Cloud. It was in this
palace that the French Consul went through his
first rehearsals of the drama of the empire ; it
was at this palace that he began to introduce, in
exterior forms, the habits and etiquette which
called to mind the usages of sovereignty. He
very soon perceived how great an influence the
pomp of ceremonies, the splendour of personal
appearance, and the richness of habiliments
exercise over
.the mass of mankind. " How
thoroughly," he said to me, " do men deserve
the contempt I feel for them. All your virtuous
republicans I have but to put gold lace on their
coats and they are mine." I remember well
that, on an occasion of one of his fits of con-
tempt for the whole human race, I observed to
him, that although so much admiration was in-
spired in vulgar minds by mere baubles, there
was nevertheless some men distinguished above
their fellow-mortals, who were not to be caught
with such baits of false allure ; and I named, as
an example of such an exception, the celebrated
Mr. Fox, who, in anticipation of the conclusion
of the peace of Amiens, had already come to
Paris, where he was remarked for nothing more
than his extreme simplicity. "As to him, you
are right ;" said the First Consul, " Mr. Fox is
a really superior man, and one who is much to
my mind." Bonaparte, in short, was always
much pleased with a visit from Mr. Fox, and
after interviews with him never failed to speak to
me of the satisfaction he had derived from the
conversation with a man truly worthy of his
great celebrity. He considered him as a superior '
man in every respect, and was very desirous of I
having to treat with him in the ulterior relations
which were to be established with England.—
Bourrienne's Memoires.

DEATH OF KING ROBERT BRUCE.

(From Sir Walter Scott's History of Scotland.)

" Bruce seemed only to wait for the final de-
liverance of his country to close his heroic
career. He had retired, probably for the pur-
pose of enjoying a milder climate, to his Castle
of Cardross, on the Firth of Clyde, near Dum-
barton. Here he lived in princely retirement,
and, entertaining the nobles with rude hospita-
lity, relieved by liberal doles of food the dis-
tresses of the poor. Nautical affairs seemed to
have engaged his attention very much, and he
built vessels, with which he often went on the
adjacent Firth. He practised falconry, being
unable to sustain the fatigue of hunting. We
may add, for every thing is interesting where
Robert Bruce is the subject, that he kept a lion,
and a fool named Patrick, as regular parts of
his establishment. Meantime his disease (a
species of leprosy, as we have already said,
which had its origin in the hardships and pri-
vations which he had sustained for so many
years) gained ground upon his remaining
strength.
" When he found his end drew nigh, that
great King summoned his Barons and Peers
around him, and affectionately recommended his
son to their care ; then singling out the good
Lord James of Douglas, fondly entreated of him,
as his old friend and his companion in ,arms, to
cause the heart to be taken from his body after
death, conjuring him to take the charge of trans-
porting it to Palestine, in redemption of a vow
which he had made to go in person thither,
when he was disentangled from the cares brought
on him by the English wars. Now the hour
is come,' he said, ' I cannot avail myself of the
opportunity, but must send my heart thither in
place of my body ; and a better Knight than
you, my dear and tried friend and comrade, to
execute such a commission, the world holds -
not. All who were present wept bitterly around
the bed, when the King, with almost his dying
words, bequeathed this melancholy task to his
best beloved follower and champion. On the
71h of June, 1320, died Robert Bruce, at the
almost premature age of fifty-five. He was
buried at Dunfermline, where his tomb was
opened in our time, and his relics again interred
amid all the feelings of awe and admiration which
such a sight tended naturally to inspire.
" Remarkable in many things, there was this
almost peculiar to Robert Bruce, that his life
was divided into three distinct parts, which could
scarcely be considered as belonging to the same
individual. His youth was thoughtless, hasty,
and fickle, and from the moment lie began to
appear in public life, until the slaughter of the
Red Comyn, and his final assumption of the
Crown, he appeared to have entertained no cer-
tain purpose beyond that of shifting with the
shifting tide, like the other Barons around him,
ready, like them, to enter into hasty plans for
the liberation of Scotland from the English yoke,
but equally prompt to submit to the overwhelm-
ing power of Edward. Again, in a short but
very active period of his life, he displayed the
utmost steadiness, firmness, and constancy ;
sustaining, with unabated patience and determi-
nation, the loss of battles, the death of friends,
the disappointment of hopes, and an uninter-
rupted series of disasters, on which scarce a ray
of hope appeared to brighten. This term of
suffering extended from the field of Methven
Wood till his return to Scotland from the island
of Rachin, after which time his career, whenever
he was himself personally engaged, was almost
uniformly successful, even till he obtained the
object of his wishes—the secure possession of
an independent throne.

" When these things are considered, we shall
find reason to conclude that the misfortune of

the second or suffering period of Bruce's life
had taught him lessons of constancy, of pru-
dence, mad of moderation, which were unknown
to his early years, and tamed the hot and im-
betuous fire which his temper, like that of his
rother Edward, naturally possessed. He ne-
ver permitted the injuries of Edward I. (although
three brothers had been cruelly executed by that
monarch's orders) to provoke him to measures
of retaliation ; and his generous conduct to the
prisoners at Banuock,hurn, q§
well as else-
where, reflects honour on his sagacity and hu-
manity. His manly spirit of chivalry was best
evinced by a circumstance which happened iii