The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE

.111STORYof the CO L'v'SULATE and EIIIPIR.E.
Vol. Xl. By Al. A. Thiers Colburn and Co.
Carrying out this, his magnificent project, Adolphe
Thiers is rendering himself, par excellence, the annalist
of the Revolution and its Consequences. Volume
after volume recounting the history of the Consul
Bonaparte confirmed us in this impression. Volume
after volume narrating the yet more extraordinary
fortunes of the Emperor Napoleon has since then ap-
peared, and each of them has tended solely to the en-
hancement of that conviction. M. Thiers has brought
to his task a style of very remarkable lucidity, an
eloquence singularly plastic, an un winking vigilance,
a resolute and, we believe in most instances, a scru-
pulously conscientious judgment; and all these quali-
fications, moreover, have been kindled into unusual
vitality through the influence of an earnest and
enthusiastic appreciation. It was fashionable
at one time to sneer at the records of our
author in regard to Napoleon, as those
not merely of an avowed apologist, but as
those also of an infatuated idolator. Reflection
hss dissipated this erroneous notion long since in the
minds of the candid and intelligent. It has been ac-
knowledged by the majority, and that too without re-
luctance, that what was mistaken at the outset, for the
blind homage of an unthinking worshipper was in
reality the sincere opinion of one who had weighed
cautiously, examined minutely, and analysed even
with the punctilious caution of a psychologist. Of
the accuracy of these assertions in regard to the
truthfulness of M. Thiers as an historian, we take his
latter volumes as affording conspicuous, nay more
than sufficient, testimony. Whenever the Emperor
acted with culpability he has shown himself ready
not only to acknowledge the fault, but to speak of it
moreover in language of the severest reprobation.
That these occasions are not more frequent is
a circumstance attributable only to the clear-
ing away of those prejudices which had hitherto
clouded the glory of that wonderful man, whose
genius even now is not to the full comprehended, and
whose name was blackened for a while by calumny,
only to emergejas it is already emerging into the light
of a more serene and unfading effulgence. In the in-
stalment of this great history of the Consulate and the
Empire just published by the Messrs. Colburn and
Company, an instalment making the eleventh volume,
and consisting of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh
books, we have accounts furnished us first of Talavera
and Walcheren, and subsequently of the memorable
divorce between Napoleon and Josephine. Recount-
ing the narrative of the military operations of the
French in Spain during the year 1809, M. Thiers
attributes their failure very justly in the first instance
to the melancholy want of unity in the command.
The truth of this we conceive to be altogether un-
deniable, and the cause of it is no less apparent,
being the rivalry between the Marshals of Na-
poleon, the Emperor having his attentions diverted
from their proceedings by the cares of the
internal administration and external relations of his
gigantic and but recently established empire. If M.
Thiers reveals some reluctance in detailing the events
which led at last to the sanguinary conflict at Tale •
vera, be finds his wounded patriotism consoled
shortly afterwards by giving a sketch of that expedi-
tion to Walcheren which, for the English, terminated
so disastrously. The principal attraction, however,
of the volume now before us is incontestably the re-
cord it contains of all particulars relating to the me-
morable divorce of the Emperor and his ultimate
union with an Austrian Archduchess. The determi-
nation, after long and reiterated delays, arrived at by
Napoleon in reference to the matter of this divorce, is
spoken of by his present historian as a resolution " so
painful to his heart, so pleasing to his pride, sad of so
little service to his power." Poor apoleon
Poor Josephine ! It was to each a cala-
mity—a calamity to the latter very manifest, to the
former unforseen. Every detail connected with this
mournful transaction is given by M. Thiers with
a melancholy exactitude. He relates how the Em-
peror confided his resolve, in the first instance, to the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Champagny, and to the
arch Chancellor, Cambaceres. He narrates the fact
not merely of Napoleon sending for the Viceroy
Eugene, to confer with that Prince upon the best
means for preparing Josephine for her fate, but how
his imperial and royal Majesty solicits the hand of
the Archduchess Anne, the sister of the Emperor
Alexander. Then, in rapid succession, we see pass
before us the other scenes of this domestic tragedy :
the arrival of Prince Eugene at Paris ; the grief and
resignation of the Empress Josephine ; the forms
adopted for the divorce; and ultimately the consum-
mation of that act on the 15th of December. There-
upon Napoleon retires to Trianon, and Josephine to
Malmaison—to that beautiful Malmaison where they
had, not many years before, lived together with so
much happiness. Alas ! for Napoleon, not less
than for Josephine, it was in this act that

he completed the long catalogue of sacrifices to his
insatiable ambition—the sacrifice of himself, of his
own heart, of that heart's dearest and purest affection.
From M. Thiers we learn what is the precise effect
of the offer transmitted to St. Petersburgh, and how
the Emperor Alexander, with a proviso to the effect
that there shall be a previous treaty against the even-
tual re-establishment of Poland, consents to give his
sister to Napoleon in marriage. Then come the in-
tentional delays of Russia to the completion of this
negotiation, the impatience of the Emperor Napoleon,
and the subsequent arrival of secret communications,
making known the desire of Austria to bestow an
Archduchess on the great conqueror. Annoyed at the
procrastination of Russia, Napoleon at length breaks
with that power, and determines to unite himself to
a Princess of the house of Hapsburg. This final re-
solution, as the world well knows, was followed
by the celebration of the marriage with
Marie Louise, at Vienna, on the 11th of
March, and at Paris on the 2d of April. Having re-
counted the whole of these unfortunate proceedings,
the historian closes the eleventh volume with an ac-
count of the temporary change for the better in the
public opinion, and with a reference to the last illu-
sions of France as to the duration of the Imperial
Reign. Intoxicated with the glory of the wonderful
hero who had risen from a simple lieutenant of era'•
lery to be the most puissant Sovereign in Christen-
dom, the people, says M. Thiers, " began again,"
after this marriage with the Austrian Archduchess,
" to believe in the infinite and everlasting greatness
of the empire, as though they had never doubted it.
In fact," says he, " the victory of Wagram, though
not equalling those of Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland
in the grandeur of its trophies—while it was yet on a
par with them as to the genius displayed—the victory
of Wagram, completed by the marriage with
Marie Louise, replaced Napoleon at his
highest degree of power, and if pru-
dence gradually repaired the grand fault
of the war in Spain, the last illusions sprung from
that marriage might be realized. But," says M.
Thiers, in conclusion (and we take this remark of
itself to be adequate proof that he is something
better than an infatuated worshipper, that he is a judi-
cious and discriminating appreciator of the Em-
peror), " But that this should be so something must
have been changed which is less changeable than
destiny—the character of a man must have been
changed, and that man was Napoleon." We shall
look with eager curiosity for the subsequent volumes
of a history the interest and value of which become
necessarily enhanced in proportion as they approach
the period of the Emperor's downfal.

THE RETURN OF ULYSSES. A German
Class-book. By Paul .Hirsch. Taylor, Walton,

and Maberley.
Other masters of the German language, besides
Feick Lebahn, are endeavouring to smooth away
whatever difficulties present themselves in the
task of its acquisition by Englishmen. Among these
may now be ranked the compiler of the little volume
lying before us, in which a prose version of the
"Odyssey" is preceded by a grammar, concise, it is true,
but one also of admirable lucidity in its arrangement.
Appended to this, moreover, is a vocabulary—to most
learners by no means the least acceptable part of the
production. The history of Ulysses comprised in the
volume under notice—not unlike that written in Eng-
lish by Charles Lamb—was penned in German by
Dr. Ernst Knapp, late professor in the College of
Minden. It is remarkable as a narrative, it is but
Just to observe, not less for the purity of its style and
the elegance of its diction than for a manner suffici-
ently idiomatic to impart at once both zest and profit
to the mind of a learner in its perusal. The reprint
of this charming story in its present form, under the
de
direction of Paul Hirsch, is not slightly enhanced in
oa value
bl by
ra a variety y ofa s w el l illustrativeas
no
owoodcu inconsiderables , displaying k
e skill
in the execution.

ENGLISH SONGS. By Barry Cornwall. A
New Edition. Chapman and Hall.
Who that has a love for melody entertains not a
sentiment of affection for Barry Cornwall? The
Anacreon of England—more than this, the Moore,
the Burns, the Beranger. His name has long since
become a " household word" amongst us, as the writer
of songs more chaste than those of Herrick, less arti-
ficial than those of Cowley, and as dainty as those of
Suckling. It has not remained for us at this moment
to commend the effusions of Barry Cornwall to the
public—effusions which have for many years been
familiar to thousands, most of whom, strange to say,
are unacquainted even now with the real name con-
cealed behind the illustrious pseudonym of Brian
Waller Procter. It only remains for us in the in-
stance under consideration to notify with no
little satisfaction the appearance of a new
edition of these "English Songs and other
Poems," with additions ! Those additions
reveal on the part of Barry Cornwall the maturity
and ripeness of all his intellectnal powers, of all those
powers which have aided in building up his by no
means perishable reputation. Several of the pieces
Are equal to anything produced by lika iu hie earlier