The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-10 00:00:00

sufficiently comprehensible circumstance, that, ac-
cordingly as his work advanced, accordingly as he
descended the stream of ;time, till he came within
view of an epoch nearer to his own, naturally„in-
evitably, he found his labours, in the wal of
research and (investigation, increase and multiply.
Piles upon piles of folios, of quartos, of octavos,
pamphlets, broadsheets, journals, memoirs, autobio-
graphies, correspondence, state papers, littering
the table, the chairs, the floor around the historian
as he read and wrote, collecting his facts and col-
lating his authorities. What were mountains in
this way to Lord Macaulay when dealing with the
annals of William 111., are mole-hills to M. Thiers
when doing the like by the era of Napoleon I. His
survey extending geographically, moreover, over
all Europe—into Africa—into Asia. His hero en-
teringlin triumph as a conqueror, one after another,
the great capitals of Christendom, advancing from
Paris, to Milan, to Berlin, to Vienna, to Moscow, to
Madrid, to Cairo, to Alexandria. His investiga-
tions embracing within them the whole world of
diplomacy, of war, of legislation. Statesmen and
Warriors, Emperors and Kings grouping together
as subsidiary figures around the central form of that
One Man, the narrative of whose marvellous career
the annalist has him) undertaken. Eighteen or
twenty years have been comprised in theimere pub-
lication of the twenty substantial volumes consti-

tuting this immense tribute of admiration to the
genius of Napoleon. Since the issue, from the press
in this country, of the first of these twenty volumes
of the work in the form of a very carefully prepared
and avowedly authorised translation—Thiers' His-
tory of the Consulate and Empire has had to pass
through the hands of a succession of translators, and

through the hands also, be it said, of a succession of
publishers. D. Forbes Campbell was the name of
the first of these translators, the name affixed to

the first title-page. Volume I. being published
under those auspices " with the sanction and ap-
proval of the author," in the March of 1845! The
late Mr. Colburn being the original publisher, and
so continuing to be, in fact, during the next lustre.
Daring that first year—it is curious to note thus
the jolting manner of the appearance of the work
throughout (for, as with the English translation, so
has it been with the French original—the two pub-
lications taking place throughout as nearly as possi-
ble simultaneously)—during that first year (1845)
the first five volumes appeared. In the next year but
one (1847) two more were issued—the sixth and
seventh. Another year being skipped, in 1849
came forth the eighth, andin 1850 the ninth volume
of 'Tiers' History. The next year, the year of the
Hyde Park Exhibition (1851) witnessing the issue
in sequence of the two following, that is the tenth
and eleventh : the publisher's name then appearing
for the first time differently, viz., as Colburn and
Company. This being preliminary to the transfer-
ence of the late Mr. Colburn's business to the now
well-known firm succeeding to it, the firm of
Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. Five years, however,
were now allowed to slip by, before, in 1856, volumes
twelve and thirteen were published by Messrs,
Willis and Sotheran. Into the hands of this
firm the entire copyright then passed, and it is by
the Messrs. Willis and Sotheran that the work has
now been gradually completed. Two more volumes,

sion :

the fourteenth and fifteenth, appearing in 1857,
and another, the sixteenth, in 1858. In 1860 the
seventeenth was issued, " translated from the
French," according to the title page, by some name-
less translator or translators. Last year the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth volumes brought the History
down to the Champ de Mai-the present year wit-
nessing its tardy but brilliant and, so far as Water
100 ,is concerned, we grieve to add, its singularly
untruthful completion by the issue of this last
volume, the twentieth. As affording the reader an
instant notion of the arrangement of the narrative
from first to last by M. Thiers, and of his skill in
grouping the parts together as a symmetrical whole,
we will here specify by name, in numerical order,
the title of the Sixty-two Books into which this
enthralling History of Napoleon has been subdi-
vided. The number of Books being by a purely
accidental coincidence identical with the number of
years to which the century had extended when
these annals of the Consulate and the Empire were
completed :-
Book Book
1. Constitution of the Year 32. Erfurth
Eight 33. Sorno-Sierra
2. Internal Government 34. Ratisbou
3. Ulm and Genoa 35. Wagram
4. Marengo 36. Talavera and Walcheren
5. Heliopolis 37. The Divorce
6. Armistice 38. Continental Blockade
7. Hohenlinden 39. Torres Vedraa
8. The Infernal Machine 40. Fuentes d'Onoro
9. Neutral Powers 41. The Conned
10. Evacuation of Egypt 42. Tarragorl the Niemen
11. General Peace 43. Passage °'
12. The Concordat 44. Moscow
13. The Tribunate 4456: Thehiergtor and Sala-
-14. Consulate for Life
15. The Secularisation mane°
16. Rupture of the Peace of 47. The Cohorts
Amiens 48. Luton andß%lttn:
17. Camp of Boulogne 49. DrasdPn and
H u"
18. Conspiracy of Georges 50. LellAlg
I•The Invasion
19. The Empire Briewie and. M. ontmirail
20. The Coronation Al First Abdication
21. Third Coalition `5.4. Restoration of the Bour-
-22. Ulm and Trafalgar bons
23. Austerlitz 55• Government of Louis
24. Confederation of • XVIII.
Rhine 58. Congress of Vienna
25. Jena 57. The Island of Elba
26. Eylau 58. Additional Act
27. Friedland and Tilsit 59. The Champ de Mai
28. Fontainebleau 60. Waterloo
29. Aranjeuz 61. Second Abdication
30. Bayonne 62. St. Helena
31. Raylen has been massed together in the
Already there _
which have appeared upon those three
criticisms
last books constituting the closing or twentieth
volume of M.
Tillers Annals of the Consulate and
Empire of France, under Napoleon-such an over-
whelming mass of evidence demonstrating the
fallacy not only of the conclusion the French His-
torian (might we not rather say Fabulist) has
arrived at in regard to the Crowning Battle of
,
Waterloo, but even, it must be said, of the very facts
marking every stage of that tremendous conflict,
that we may allow this sixtieth Book to pass by
sub silentio. Skimming but lightly over the sur-
face of the penultimate book (the 61st) relating to
" The Second Abdication," as being (like the epoch
or incident it describes) distractingly confused, all
but bewildering even in its confusion-we pause
by preference at that last scene of all in this
"strange eventful" Tragedy-Epic-Melodrama-
the History of Napoleon Book the Sixty-second,
and Last, it is marked--and the title of it is, simply
" St. Helena." It is a chapter or book worthy of
its theme. It is the noblest effusion of the genius,
and eloquence, and patriotism, and scholarship of
11. Thiers. It is one of the grandest tributes ever
yet offered to the immense and imperishable fame

71-
of apoleon.
He whose deathless repute as a
Lawgiver, is attested to the recognition of all
future times by the Code Napoleon. He whose
Matchless glory as a Great Captain, has
been asserted in burning words of admira-
tion by the chivalrous English Military His-
torian, Sir William Napier, who, at the close of
his Annals of the Peninsular War, has declared
Napoleon the Great to be comparable only to
Hannibal,and second to none. In a series of contrasts
as noble as any to be found among the wondrous
parallels in Plutarch, M. Thiers has placed the
fame and genius of Napoleon in juxtaposition
successively with those of Caesar, of Alexander, of
Hannibal, of Charlemagne. It is just, it is eloquent
.—this majestic seYies of comparisons. Even we, as
Englishmen, can now admit as much very readily—
now that so many years have elapsed since this
modern Caesar, Alexander, Hannibal, Charlemagne
breathed his last as a state prisoner at Longwood.
The recognition of Napoleon's vast genius an..d of his
astonishing achievements can in no way deteriorate
surely from our national renown, can only tend to
signalise and to enhance it. For has not Englati.d
inscribed upon her annals in characters of blood and.
flame that she it was among the nations who pulled
down this Colossus ?
As an affecting specimen of M. Thiers' manner
as &narrator, here are the historian's reflections when
musing over the autopsy of Napoleon :
The inspection of his body revnctealed several
these wounds, som
one
very slight and three very di Of threo,
was in his head, one on the ring finger of the left hand,
and a third in the left thigh, the last a very deep wound
resulting from a bayonet thrust received at the siege of
Toulon. Of these wounds the origin of the latter alone cart
be historically ascertained. From the measures taken and
the exact description made of the body, it appears that Na-
poleon was five feet two inches (French measure), the body
well proportioned, the feet and hands remarkable for the
regularity of their form, the shoulders wide, the chest well
developed, the neck a little short, but bearing firraly and
erect, the largest and best formed head ever submitted to
the investigations of science, and a countenance whose
beauty even death respected, of which his contemporaries
have preserved an ineffaceable remembrance, and of which
posterity will say, when comparing it with busts from the
antique, that it was one of the most beautiful that God had
ever made to manifest the workings of genius. His life so
pregnant in action, that it seems to comprise centuries, did
not last more than 52 years. MM. de Montholon and Mar-
chand dressed him in the uniform he preferred, that of the
Chasseurs of the Guard, and placed upon his puissant head
the little hat he was accustomed to wear. A single pries
and a few friends prayed for some days beside his inanimate
body. What a wonderful lesson (conformable to the termi-
nation of his career) was presented by the profound solitude
that surrotmded the death-bed of the man that the universe
had looked up to and flattered I To the honour of soldiers
it must be recorded, that as long as his coffin remained
open, the English troops defiled around. When, at last, the
tomb that was to receive him was completed, and which
was situate near the fountain whose waters had afforded
him some relief, his friends, followed by the Governor, the
staff of the island, the soldiers of the garrison, and the mar
rines of the naval squadron, bore him to the spot where he
was to repose until, when, in accordance_ with his wishes, he
was transported to the banks of the Seine. The English sol-
diers fired a salute of cannon over his inanimate body, and
his companions in exile, having knelt for a while beside the
tomb that had just received the remains of the greatest mats
the world had seen since Caesar and Charlemagne, prepared
to return to Europe. As a concluding lesson to the many
that may be derived from this tomb, we must add that the
exiles from St. Helena were received with general interest
even in England, whilst the unfortunate Hudson Lowe,
who was merely the instrument of his Government, was
met with coldness by his countrymen, with ingratitude by
the Ministers he had obeyed, and with embarrassment by
his very friends 1 Eternal justice of Providence revealing
itself here below I At St. Helena Napoleon expiated the
misery he had caused the world, and those to whom it was
allotted to punish him had to expiate the disrespect they
had shown to glory and genius
Yet more affecting, in another sense, is the reflection,
or rather, as M. Thiers himself calls it, the cry with
which the whole work is thus brought to a conclu-

" The life of this great man, so instructive for soldiers,
rulers, and politicians, contains a lesson also for citizens. It
teaches them that they ought never to abandon their coun-
try to the power of one man, no matter who he may be, no
matter under what circumstances. This is the cry that
springs from my heart, the sincere wish I utter, as I con-
chide this long history of our triumphs and our reverses,
and which I hope will penetrate the heart of every French-
man, and persuade him never to sacrifice his liberty, nor
run the risk of doing so, by abusing it."
When inscribing those words at the close of his
Great History of the Consulate and Empire of
France under Napoleon—as a sculptor with chisel_
and mallet graves his name upon the pediment of
a colossal statue he himself is conscious of being his
masterpiece—M. Thiers here affixes more than his
name—he affixes indelibly the brand of his political
principles, amounting in their intensity almost to a
passion, to the life of his life—affixes the brand of
hie political principles, epitomised in that one Cry
for Liberty—at the close of his luminous as well as
voluminous annals of the Rise and Fall, the Life
and Death, the Glory and Genius of the Great
Napoleon.

ANCIEN7 STREET PAGEANTS ON LORD
MAYOR'S DAY.

The Drapers, at Sir Robert Clayton's show in
1679, diversified their pageant with allegorical re-
presentations of the twelve months of the year.
They were displayed in front of a moving stage,
symbolising the mystery of a Golden Ram, " backed
by a pretty rider, being a beautiful boy, with such
features, complexion, and symmetry of limbs, that
he might have prevailed with Medea, as far as.
Jason did, when he obtained the golden fleece."
A shepherdess, richly habited, bearing in one hand
a gilded crook, and in the other the City banner,
made an appropriate speech to the Lord Mayor.
The concluding pageant exhibited a landscape of
Salisbury-plain, where shepherds were feeding and
folding their flocks; and for the Drapers' delight,
here were several trades met together, all pertinent
for making of cloth—as carders, dyers, spinners,
woolcombers, shearers, dressers, frillers, and wea-
vers, which were not without order, because the
excellence of the scene " did consist in confusion."
4i They could not work in their distinct arts, yet
they had assembled to rejoice in dancing, piping,
and singing, to pay their compliments to the new
Lord Mayor, and service to the Worshipful Drapers'
Company.

1699. Sir John Levett, Haberdasher and Mayor,
amongst other costly displays, had a stately chariot,
all enriched with embossed work of silver, driven
upon four golden catherine wheels, in which was
seated St. Catherine, patroness of the honourable
company. It was drawn by two large Indian goats,
argent—being the supporters of the Company.
haatte stage,rs, tappers,
prepresenting
a n d
Then followed a scenic pageant called" The Factory
of Commerce," consisting of
shops—as.milliners, hosiers,
other branches of the haberdashery trade. As the
Lord Mayor made his speech, " Commerce descended
to a rich throne and replied to him." As the pageant
went by, several papers of tobacco were given
amongst the people. 1694. The Clothworkers'
pageant represented London in allegory, which
changed to the Garden of the Hesperides with Jason
and the Golden Fleece. Then came the chariot of
Apollo, drawn by golden griffins, the Company's
supporters, and while Apollo addressed the Lord
Mayor, " a rich figure of a rising sun, above ten
feet in diameter, appeared at the back of the car
with all his beams displayed in gold." The " trade
pageant" expressed the whole art and mystery of
the Clothworkers, the chief figure being Jack of
Newbury, a famous Berkshire clothier.

1702. The Vintners, at Sir Samuel Dashwood's
show, set forth their patron saint, St. Martin, " on
a stately white steed, richly plumed and capari-
soned, himself splendidly armed cap-a-pie, having
a large mantle of scarlet, who was followed by
cripples and beggars seeking charity, and twenty
satyrs dancing before him with tambors, a great
escort with music, ten old Roman lictors in silver
head-pieces, with axes and fusces, came to St.
Paul's-churchyard, and there standing still, the saint
cut his mantle in pieces with his sword and gave
each mendicant a part." The author of this pageant
speaks of it as a resurrection of the splendour which
formerly shined forth at the City festival, but had
now almost " dropt into oblivion."—City Press.

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