The Sun.
London, England, 1815-01-21 00:00:00

(No. I.XV.)

1115To!tICAL SCIRI47II' Of the CITARACTER of NAPOLEON
ntioNAPARTE; ' funded en' his own Words and Actions,
farming an Introdfiction to the "Verret .Ifintoirx." By One
rtho never quitted him for Fifteen Years.. .Tratislated from
the 6th, Paris edition. 12in0. pp. 92. U. Collsurn.

'This little Volume is from the same pen which,
*rote the secret Memoirs, the subject of two for.
mer'Nundicrs 41f- the SUN REview. The umbra
of BOONAPARTE' for 15 years might, we think;
have tohl.us much more than this writer seems to
know ;. and. We are inclined to believe, that :a
masterly delineation of 'the 'Character of that man
of extraordinary guilt and fortune, must be the
work of sonic future painter.• Sunk into insignifi-
cance, as the once powerful Tyrant isit this hour,
there is still so much of the personalinemoryof'his•
crimes or favours, extant, that it would be difficult
to find a historian of Ids. deeds whose entire im-
partiality could be relied on. Each, however, who.
attempts the task will produce his facts, and
these being sifted and weighed hereafter, will,
from the pallet of an Artist, furnish; the picture
of the. greate.A scourge of mankind that ever
steeped the world in blood. In the Mean time
we shall select only one passage from this publi-
catipu, which has already furnished•mmany co-
lumns to every newspaper in the,Country, as to
lose any interest it might at tirq-possess for our
R.F.VIEW. The Writer thus sums uphii opinion
of BiMNAPARTE

":NaeoLuon BUONAPARTE was at the stone time
renowned and guilty: He was less indebted .for
, •
nis triumphs to native genius;-than to the
bravery oftlie French nation, and the torrents- of
blood, that' he,eaused to he shed. An achni.;
rable. General, in the hour of victory, he was the
most timid of warriors, when compelled to re-
treat.' From the Kremlin he came to Paris, and
left behind him, without pay,. Without remorse,
myriads -of unfortunate soldiers; abandoned, tts
the most hideous calamities. Never man attach-
ed so little value to the life of man. If he spared
sonic persons wha were according to his
moral code, it was strictly self-interest that sug-
g,--ited the pardon which. his lips pronounced.
Ile was devoured by passions ; or rather. he had
but one,. which devoured every other._ This
was a measureless ambition, to which the an- •
uals of Mankind do not furnish a parallel. It
was a sort of frantic desire to he spoken of, no
matter !loon what account. To this frenzy he
sacrificed millions of human beings, incalculable
treasures, and ultimately--,,himsefft: Tower
and OlOry bad calcined "his very heart's core.
The fumes of grandeur had rendered liirlincapa-
ble of the softer affections ; he was, therefore,
surrounded by courtiers, but never had a friend,
not eve!) in the bosom of his own family. Sys-
tematically.imperious, no man could be in the
right, when he wished, him
.to be in the wrong.
If he had a crowded Court, the crowd was
pelted thither by the stimulants of •avarice and
ambition Nations were to him What flocks are to
the proprietors . he calculated upon the fleece
and the carcase: The word humanity had -no
sense in his mouth; he conic! associate no mean-'
ing with the term. Absolute authority had:ren-
dered him " a dead corpse in complete steel," In
short, if, any thing can palliate thefunereal•cele-
brity of this man, and extort from the French
nation that forgiveness which religion enjoins, it
is the reflection, that he -was the work of an angry
God, an instrument of, divine vengeance on the
undivulged crimes of Europe.
" Let us not, then, be more of Royalists than
the King himself, or less merciful than the Divi-
nity. If the hand of God has -reserved for him
peace and happinesl among the rocks ofElba, it
is because, in tqs 0-seeing eyes, he is less.guilty
than in our's ". .

A -CAUTION AGAINST FIRE,

116-
I UiVI:4.

As considerable importance has been attached
to the affair .in ‘rhich this Gentleman's name is
implicated, and as,
.from- its connexion with the
snbject of the Property Tax, it becomes of c:n.-
siderahle national interest, we make no apology
for offering a few observations upon it ; first as
relates to Mr. GLAnsTorsiE, and secondly as re-'
lates to my Lord LlVErtroot...• - The original pa-
ragriiiih Which lCd to thiS controversy appeared
in the Morning Chronicle of the 7th, and was as
follows :-

" We find that it was not to Mr. Hart Davis* alone th.t •
the Earl of Liverpool addressed a letter respecting the cottti:,
nuance of the Property Tax; but he has written to others of
the devoted aim expectuat friends of the Trea4nryin different
towns-, requestin, them to feel the ;while pulse On the oeca-.
sion, and let him know Me' revisit. A WIG,. of this kind,
from• the Noble Earl, addressed, -to Mr. Isladstone .of
:Liverpool (the friend of Mr.. Canning), was shewn about
by that Gentleman, with great salt-importance. It. stated •
the anxious desi-..e of Government to learn whether the
loyal Town of Liverpool would approve of the' conti-
nuance of the Property Tax for another year, to wind
up-the • expenses of the war, and requesting to have an
answer. It is supposed at Liverpool that Mr. Gladstone has
replied in theatfirniative. But 'the sentiments 'of the great
Majority of the,connereial men there, iisoopposite,'and;ihe
feeling is so universal, that a' Meeting is to be held on the
subject,- and in this the Tories themselves take the-le'l.—
Thi4 may serve to shcw to the Country at large what is be-
Come necessary fOr them to do ; and how important it is to
beware of the insldious artifices of the known Agents of the
Treasury."

In answer to this statement (as false and un-
just as ever appeared in a public Journal, and
having nothing. o truth connected with it hilt the
bare fact.of Lord LtvattrpoL'i having written, to
Mr.,
GLApSTONE), ttie following Letterwas:al-
diesSed to several Liverpool and Loudon News
•
papers , .

" Liverpool, 9111 Januar:, 1915.

have to-day yea!' a paragraph in yoUr Paper of the
7th instant, stating, That a Letter had been received by me
' from the Earl of Liverpool, wlierein the Noble Earl ex-
' pressed the anxious desire of Government to learn whether
•' the loyal town of Liverpool would approve of the Property
Tax for another year, to wind up the expeuSei of the wiiit
ant requesting to have an answer.' In consequence
I land inform you, .that the assertion is without fonn:
dation : I hare not received such a'leiter: nor has Ids Lard-
put any questions to me on the subject. I therefore. desire
that you will, as an act of common justice, ihsert this in your.
next paper; and'l also trust that in future you will be more
cautious how you lend yourself for the purpose of giving cir-
cutatiOnto statements not less false than evidently founded
in Motives of the most malignant nature. Should the Editors-
of other Papers have copied the statement, I expect they will
also`publish this letter.

" 1 am, Sir, your's, &c.
" JOHN G LADSTONE."

If ingenuity or malice can torture any thing out
of the assertions of the Chronicle, and the contra-
diction of Mr.GLAusTONE, it must be that the latter'
did not think' hiMself called upon by a malignant,
false, and anonymous charge, to enter more into
the particulars •of the correspondence between ,
Lord Liv4eoot. and hitnself,.than simplyto deny
that there was any foundatiim for such scan-
dalous allegations as were made against him.
For this exercise of his discretion," and for this
alone,, is Mr. GLADSTONE. before-the public,-which
will decide whether he is to be commended for his
prudence in not unnecessarily disclosing what v.-.as
entrustcd to him in privacy and confidence, or con:
detuned for not being inure explicit. For Our-
:
selves-We shall only say, that if be had been pro'
yoked by the calamnious imputations of the.
. Morning Chronicle to publish what was confided.
to him; we should have considered him to be un-
worthy of the good opinion which led to that:
communication, and have dewply lamented
an example of the fact, that of all • the
harassing and inquisitorial powers• ever vest-
ed in any human authority,' the most grost-
ly oppressive and dangerous • was that which
belonged to the, press, which by vague surmises
anti false accusations could wring out every mar.'s
secret from his"bosom: The stone gradnally
creasing in weight. which the old law -laid upon
.
the breasts of suspected persons, to extort-con-
fessions, was a mercy, to this novel, undefined,
and unlimited rack. - -
With the two documents (above extracted) he-
fore ey6, the Foiltor of theWorning Chronicle
has this day the shameless effrontery to adeto his

4.1 ;7, ;ITU-)
Uy 1,1111.;;:i VIM 11,111 S Uri disLell

sct (lolls

" Mr. Gz.AnsioNE has chosen to print in The Liverpool
Courier, a st<iteincut in explanation of his fainons letter,
tviiich s.ve re-published yesteillby: In that letter lie positively
declare:o,7in the fate of his enquiry, shut the Earl if f,ivetpoiii
hod not written to him, _nor errii kit- a qui...alai to him rol-
ccr;iing the Property Tux. This deciar.itton, under hishanl,
he_ had the decency to rettnet in a full asiembly of his fellow-

Citizew:!'
Mr. GLADSTONE'S letter :is , printed above,, and
we put it to the Reader, of whatever. Party he
may he, to say if there is a word of truth in these
assertions of the Chronicle: to say, if it is not at-
teily false that ever Mr. GLADSTONE
.deCiated"that
Lord LtvEnPooe had .not written to
.him„--et-
terly false that he has retracted his' assurance
that Lord LIVERPOOL had put no question' to him,
concerning the Property-TaN. On the contrary, it
was impossible that Mr.GLAnsToNE'enuld act in
this manner. He had shewn Lord Livcarooe's
letter It) many persons in Liverpool in the end'-tif
Pecendner—he bad not only consUlted his friends
upon it., but corunitinicated it to his political ad,
versay-ies ; and will any man credit • the 'absurd
imputation, that on the 9th. of January he
Would publicly deny ,the existence of that
of v%:•liiell lie knew .there were huntircsds who
could disprove the truth from his .6Wn lips;
and under his own hand-writing any man
believe that he would, be,so• insane as pnbliely to.
disavow what the Chronicle-itself tells us he''' had
show, about with so niuckself-importance."
We shall not take.npnsore time ih exposing
the inconsistency and folly of the charge againit
this respectable Gentleman, who will no doubt
defend his
,character from. such aspersions more
ably than a third person can do, though a sense of
common justice impelled us to offer these re-
flections upon the case.
With regard to Lord LIVERPOOL, anovring the
''truth Of all that has been said respecting him,
-it amounts to this, that the Prime Minister
-of Great Britain pays that deference to the
'Sentiments of the People that he is anxious to
knoW what these sentiments are, before be pro-
poses or rejects the proposition of a great politi-
cal measure in which the interests of the People
are most intimately involved. This, we imagine,
will be deemed a very popular offence, and likely
to render his Lordship no common favourite with
all ranks in the nation.
Having thus fairly delivered ourselves upon this
-important subject, we shall only 11,d , that if the
Sense of the People (not of the brawling Party,
who' are. always 'noisy and busy in trying to
embarrass the Government,) is decidedly ex-
pressed against' this Tax, either in Consti-
tutional Petitions, or by 'the Voice of their
Representatives in Patliament, it will behove
Ministers to see, if .possible, to do without it.-
-How this can be done, we confess we do not know.
By departing from the •fundamental priOCiple on
which our financial greatness rests, viz. that of
raising the supplies for the year within the year, a
part of the burthen of ‘1815.-16 may, perhaps be
transferred. Co, 1.81 6-1 7: Another source of .our
.prosperity, the Sinking Fund, may also be invaded
'for the payment of interest. More Exchequer
Bills may be issued, and our money market, de-
preciated, and our exchanges turned against us.
And last of all, an increase of the Assested Taxes
may furnish what is still wanting for the necessi-
ties of the Country.
The consideration is, whether the Property
Tax, with all its blemishes, is not preferable to
these expedients ?

MAILS.
ARRIVED--3 Dublin, .1 Waterf*ird. Dus-2 France, I Lii.
bun, 1 Harolmro, 1 Holland, .•

PftiCE 0
THIS LMY AT T'

sTocKS
ELVE
Bank Stocie, • liauk 1.. Ann. 16 7-16ths
3 per Cent. Red. 66,1 lndia Bonds, 17s. 18s. pr.
3 per Cent. Cons: 651 Esc!leg: Bills, 2S. ss. pr.
4 per Cw►t. Cons. 83 • Oinniunt, if die.
4 per CentNaryAnn. 944 i 95. Cons. .for: February, 663 661

. 1-11.G11 WATEk AT,.1.6-,cDoN BRIDGE TO7NIORROW.
Nlornint,7,minntes after 11. lEV min kites ,iviter I I

T.1.1E :',.:SUIS:4

sordtm QuIS nicEttEFALWA Au DRAT?