The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-06 00:00:00

k 1 S'

MontholonVo/s • and IV. B, Cea era! Count
Exa
Y twenty-six years ago, dating from this sth ct
3', 1847, namely, on the sth of May, 1821, Vie Emperor
Zb?ie leen died in the arms of Montholon on the mist.,r-
-ftot'sl"(l of St Helena. It cannot be without recunar
f rt lon that those who sympathize with genius and mis-
jilo„"e, op, n a narrative penned by so faithful and Alec-
tha"tate an adherent. The aspiration of Lord -Plmerston,
of 411eur old animosities should be buried in
.the istomb
the Napoleon, has been long since fulfilled, and it now
u__Peartieular privilege of Englishmen to atone ler the
Zit" te
d aspersions of a preceding generation, and the
candid
cruelties of a former Government by the
on ;Ind ,and honourable reception of such histories as the
vretr" eurnplQted by General Count Montholon. The
the .8
unquestionably among the most remarkable of
for present century ; and it is remarkable not so much
additional light it throws upon the domestic
41" NePeloon, as for the new illustration it off, .rds
it,e, ',legislative policy, and his incomprehensible intel-
ii:ntitln these respects the " History of the Captivity" by
Pietu 51°e Posesses a twofold mt,rest. It completes the
eom re of the exile at Longwood, which had been already
oototibltn,ned by Las Casas, by Gourgaud, by Miss Bal
13101,0 (now Mrs. Abell), by O'Meara, by Captain Basil
%kb,' by Antommarchi. It does more, it furnishes
iter,...81,1i testimony as to the principles by which the
jore 'tat Government was actuated, and the plans it-was
eouded to accomplish. This testimony, be it observed,
of NT,ltainecl in very lengthened dictations from. the lips.
truth, aPoleon himself. Thanks to the eternal vitality of
conmaitil, facts of history will out," as assuredly as the
and i65"311 of murder. In spite of the most specious
And elaborated calumnies, iu spite of lying biographers,
tc, unprincipled historians, and infamous commentators,
to
tl,l'ilorsonlAge really great and good can long be hhelsdnuept
this
to detestation of mankind. How sublimely h
Protu,,eell Yery recently instanced in the case of teaLEomrd.
Perot tor, Oliver Cromwell 1 The character of the _ _
Nu') Napoleon is in like mariner becoming gradually
yitu-a`ed to us English in its true brightness ; the fogsbof
an venation and slander are rolling away from the noble
No majestic name which they have hitherto darkened._
t ,11):411-has ever been so monstrously and pertinaciously
:11 ;no man has ever been the object of such gra-
Ilit°
knd flagrant obloquy. I.'hat libels should have
41513 eared •
lattur .14 the heat of international. conflict is but the
a consequenee of the bitter sentiments engendered
warfare.
.:.chat an ungrateful hypocrite like Bouri-
re
Skoultl: I,P —4 j• igt? his benefactor is a very comprehen-
__

.._
.. - .
thereej of .atrocity, for, as William Hazlitt has said,
1,4,
shavehave injured." That a brother-like Louis Bonaparte
ssuuld publish two volumes of lase accusation against
limeeliviejy roan, who had crowned' him with the diadem of
sshiched' 'ls otie,Af. those deplorable ebullitions of spleen
bas
been
bea•Vadily understood, and it is a fault which
c conceive,
en generously forgiven and nobly expiated. We
Zell ton the ignoble and damning
" c too, how a regicide like Fouche could de-
ininded infamy of traduce-
ut that Chateaubriand—the pure and lofty-
m____
_Chateaubriand, the panegyrist and the philoso-
L7eoef Christianity—should become the lying pain-
Ree_t,
or_of legitimacy; that Sir Walter Scott—the high-
ai,dsEtif imaginative literature, the avatar of romance,
e glory of his age—should dwindle down
wor, the, sycophant of a king-adoring rabble ; that
ethion , Mitchell—a member of that profession
for 17,t's before his appearance, had been remarkable
-....shouicyn'e of honesty, and valour, and truthfulness,
degenerate into the falsifier of history and the
81ander
loss ,Iner a a
4,tl:red 1 endeavour a deceased hero ; that these and a host of
eLase portent writers should deliberately, with malice
to garble a story which was the
yen depositary of many illustrious lives, is utterly
''.,' ern th
,lpersious have comprehension, and must inevitably render
vee
fallen b een eaqsu al lul
"„mod , • Perpetual derision of mankind. Their venom
~.., ability edin vain. Their
,As theshort of the mark
dyieermouplsolyy
1 ,,e javelins of the Lilliputians did of the head
t',''eloosalle upstaiading Gulliver. Napoleon himself was
s *tie, us of that sublime moral integrity which can
Ao.;render an historical character invulnerable to
llis many lie smiled with equal contempt at the libels of
. whiehu_nY assailants and at those fulsome panegyrics
.. were so often uttered at the foot of his throne in the
'l3ta of his!"
was h.
~ supreme greatness. " I appeal to history
''',‘. Is tre
-, teBt of
the quent exclamation ; as in his celebrated pro-
. tie ioi ,4th of August, 1815. He was consoled by
Picit confidence in that love of distant posterity
which the
.. as „ . author of " Waverley " has happily spoken of
,tiotoin some degree, the metaphysics of natural affec-
.' keret And his reliance is already being verified. Not
4,,__ yis his last wish complied with, not only do his
I)Q7l7et remains repose "in the midst of that French
rteili), being
he loved so well," not merely is a monu-
, the " 'eeing erected to his memory " under the dome in
%airnidst of the temple consecrated by religion to the
• r of armies, e but it was solemnly asseverated in the
eh
IQ ,4!aber Of Deputies, by the French Government of
ii;iir during the reign of the Orleans Louis Philippe,
sole_eonsequently of a younger Bourbon—it was
X`unlY asseverated before Europe, " Napoleon was-an
euvror and a King ; he was the legitimate
eeve,_reißn of our country I" Paltry then was the
pBviuge, which denied to him in his captivity that im-
v i al title which had been conferred upon him by the
t?fice of an unanimous people and the chrism of the Pon-
theeTel What does history 'declare of the unanimity .of
psiikren_ob
Cane in his election to the throne? Thus
a anranee nouri—even Bourienne—(vol. iii., p. 163.)
and jlee at that time (1804) contained 108 departments,
m
, ere were 3,574,898 voters. Of these only 2,569
vo • (yold against hereditary'suceession." Thus speaks Scott
• s'• p iuo) -I.lpwar ds • o ,f 3 500 000 citizens had given
th
en . • , ,
' votes on this occasion; of whomonly about 3,500 had
declaredthe
against the.proposition." Thus, again, speaks
Duchess d'Abrantes (voL iv. p. 69), .. It is worthy
of remark, that' for the empire there were only 2,579
negative votes." And thus speaks Hazlitt (vol. iii. p.
117), *. The First Consul became Emperor, by a majo-
rity of two millions some hundred thousand votes to a
few hundreds." Was William of Orange, think you,
-. rightful Sovereign, as we all acknowledge him to be,
welcomed with a similar accordance by our Eng-
lish forefathers ? To gratify, therefore, an
ignoble malignity, the Government of St. James's,
ranging from 1815 to 1821, subjected Napoleon
to this frivolous insult ; and but one man, Vassal Hol-
land, had the courage or the magnanimity to raise his
voice in the House of Lords against this wretched system
of persecution. One-of the old blundering opinions is,
• • therefore, as we have already shown, for ever dissipate?,
namely, the belief that Napoleon was an usurper; rst
t ugland, by signing the Treaty of Paris with him in
• 1814, and by combining with the ocher powers of
lurope
, z to restrict his Sovereignty within the
-. Circumference of Elba, there and then virtually
Proclaimed before the world that he was
40 usurper, The arch-sin that remains levelled
against him is consequently the sin of ambition ; • and to
discern how far he is culpable or not in this respect it is
necessary to dtscover the principles and the purposes of
that ambition. Mankind cannot rest satisfied, however,
' . la observing with the Encyclopedia Brttannica, that
.` in extenuation of this ' glorious fault,' he might say,
like Mahommed,
" Jc fug ambitieux
llais jamais roi, pontife, ou chef, ou citoycn,
7„. Ne coneus in preset aussi grand qui le mien."
—inkind, we repeat it, cannot rest satisfied with such
1 extenuation. We are not all of us capacitated, like
Thomas Carlyle, to become mere hero worshippers.
The tangible glory must rest upon the durable basis of
moral greatness to win universal admiration, and a last-
ing Popularity. A schoolboy may have his mind in-
erned with wonder and enthusiasm by the idea of
Napoleon on the bridge of Lodi, among the quagmires
of Arcola, under the shadow of the Pyramids, among
the olives of Maunt Thabor, among the corn-fields of
Marengo, or among the crags and glaciers of the Great
St. Bernard. But the full-grown man, the ripe thinker,
the lover of judicious discrimination, will look rather to
the causes and effects than to the actual achievments ;
h e will inquire rather into the origin of a battle than
Into the trophies of a victory ; he will consider the con-
sequences effected by a campaign rather than the vari-
able disposition of the belligerent armies ; and, above
all, he will regard the intentions and the spirit of theiin-
ternal and external government of a wonderful mortal 1,, lhe
e
the Enip
etor Napoleon. " I .shallgo down to posterlt3,
said, ,avjth the Code in my hand." That, foris example,L
h
I*,one.Rt , 'll* chiefest glories—the Code Napoleon—which
hi
hats been justly declared to have
proved not only " a boon
of inestimable value to France, ,h to utbe even at this
'
day received as
Eu-
rope." Those who have not already formed a decisive
• ' •character of this extraordinary
opinn7ti as to the . . man—
who have, not investigated the writings,
for and against,
by Botta, Capefigue, Caulaincour , t Bourienne, Boutourlin,
Norvins, Pacea, Pele , t O'Meara, Lure'', Lecretelle,
Antommarchi, Las Cases, Beauchamp, Scott, Artaud,
ilazlitt, Berthier, De Bausset , Ireland, , Thiers, Mi gnet,
Michelet, Vandoncourt, Thibaudeau, D Abrantes, St.
Hilaire, Segur, Rovigo, Gourgaud, Montgaillard, Men-
neval, Jomini, Labaume, Chaboulon, Dumas, Benjamin
Constant, and a multitude of other authorities the very
enumeration of whom is bewildering—will find mate-
rial assistance in these volumes by Generai Count
~
Montholon. As an example of how far the History
of the captivity," tends to the elucidation of Napoleon's
Policy, and the explanation of his ambition, we give this
one significant paragraph :
" Peace once signed i a Moscow, the war in Russia would
be the last continental war of the reign . of Napoleon; as re-
garded the great cause of be the t
the people, it would er-
Mination of danger and the beginning of security. A new
era would open, and new works be commenced
fur the well-
being being
and prosperity of all. The Europeau system . . t,
founded, there would only be to consider of its organization.
he revolution The cause of the age would be gained, and
ot
ac-
complished. Napoleon would be the arch f the ancient and
new alliance, the natural mediator betweenthe oldand
new
with either,
order of things. Not having identified himself
he would belong to both, and would conscientiously support.
the cause of each in a general congress, wheFeecest•erghituhees
*ild be organized for the European continent,
Wisely-combined interest of the people and
Europe
govern-
ments, His glory would consist in his equity..
would,
in future, be really only one combination of all the people
who inhabit It. associate
" When this great work was finished, be would ,
his son with him in the empire ; his reign as Dictator would
terminate, and alreely constitutional reign would commence.
lie meant to found a royal institution at Meud an for the
to edu-
education of the King of Rome, and his project warsticularl
cate there together all the princes of his family, pa
forei )1,
of those branches of it which he had placed on _ s,
apublic
thrones, in order to join the advantages of private an
' these
education. Destined to reign over different nations,
children would have acquired, during the course of their
education in commons similar manners, principles, ideas;and
and in order the better to facilitate the fusion of thehave
federa-
tive Pactions of the empire, each of these princes should als
taken with him, on his leaving the institution, ten or twelve
Young persons of his own age, and of the first families of i
adopted country ; and the effect of this would have been
mraense."

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° those individuals who view Napoleon as goaded on