The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-20 00:00:00

...-
CHARACTER OF NAPOLII.OIsL;
(I', om Hist:.)• ieul Sketches if Statesmen who 1.101- • i• 5; e,_ c 1 ,:l
tire "lime of Geo. fie 1I I. By Henry L,,rti 1)....,,t1L:' '''''
F.R.S.)
After Larayeto fail quitted .I.IT armies t., ,•.,- t Tr, I nib;
lic, de'ttef ,I by the crimes of 17P, and C 9, , i o.9ni(i
long the dirt ctnr of their rnJrvf-llous aehle.c‘rr.,-ti tf, a",
!:,ra•Ung by bis country in !Tto of ail tile ~xee. srg J
Wltieh ,1,-. t-• '`i 41...ii:::111,qi, 11,1fi at kr,#ll ;',Ci 41; \-711
'''
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erom her :•_hie by tile evil nen :hat ewe%
victory, leeg se feiiehtier to the Frfft,ll peeple,
seesen eAranged fr ern them, and the eerie,' of
cenceasts ceonee at lost to have arrive, ne;
,as the
et mere triumphant couree was then bege..u,
eetiiits .-f Buonapet to cirtaieiv the :tie
traosilinery pereen who lays appeared in hee..'era tit etE>•
and to where, in seme reet:iects, no parallel cell
if se srnrch the whole aiinale of the buttotti ee,
the conquests f Alexander were more ca
and the metchlese clotracter of Ctesar Hula .1119°-,-e'
by more verions accomplishments, and the inva Jess.o ef
e'
'Mexico and Peru worked their eurposes of subj. °
with far more scanty means, yet the militery ge els °I.
Napoleon shines with a lustre pecaliarly its o t
which he share, with Hannibel :done, when we roll .eh
that he never bad to content like those corquerere,
adversaries inferior himself in eivii.isatit in or disc:ip.'n,;
but won all his trinmps over hosts as well ordered u"
reguletly marshalled and amply prevideci as hie 01'11
This celebrated man was sprung Irene a good fa
whYa
in Corsica, end while yet a boy fixed the attention sui
igati
raised the hopes of all his connexions. In :laxly
his military genius shone forth ; he soon sssined gt
summit of his profession ;he commanded teeent,'",,v,
a military operation of a complicated and difficuPt 110";1,-,
in Paris : being selected for superior command by t.`.3
genius of Carnet, lie rapidly led the French ariwned
through a series of victories till then unexamplt 3:0
to which, even now, his own aftereachievemenis cs's,•
alone afford any parallel, for the suddenness, the 1,,,,e,"`t
mence, and the completeness of the operations.
much of his sueeess was derived from the mechani,cal t
herence of his adversaries to the formal rules of a Iscies,a
tactics cannot be doubted ; and our Wellington's; c.re
paigns would, in the same circumstances, and I's,' es
been opposed to similar antagonists, in all likelhwi,
have been as brilliant and decisive. But in this he c.,,,'2ce,,e
that he always had to combat the soldiers bred ill -L'aaS.
Leon's school ; while Napoleon, for the most part:elce 1-
' matched against nien whose inveterate propeneitY wes,°/0-
low the rules of an obsolete science, not even the eche
ple of Frederick had been able to subdue ; of
were resolved upon being a second time the vicfrw-0,0
the same obstinate blindness which had, in Frederic'',
days, made genius triumph over numbera by bre3h„in,r,
through rules repugnant to common sense. It Mesa
however, be confessed, that although this ceeleideron,°ch
accounts for the achievements of the great warrior evlu
else had been impossible, nothing is thus detracted from 0
his praise, excepting that what he accomplished celege
to appear miraculous : for it was his glory never t°
an error pass unprofitably to himself ; nor ever to gOl,
his adversary an advantage which he could not re'slto
from him, with ample interes', before it was turne-
any fatal account. f
Nor can it be denied that, when the fortune, th or
proved adverse, the resources of his mind were f.tle
drawn forth in the more ample profusion. Ater too h3`,,,5;
of As .erne he displayed more skill, as well ite c-test%rlt
than in all his previous campaigns ; and the struggle et
he made in Fiances during the dreadful conflict *the
preceded. his dowitfal, is by many regarded as ;as
masterpiece of his military life. Nor let us fhrget tO,
the grand errror of his whole career, the mighty °lst
dition Moscow, was a political error only. .fhe he
preparations for that campeign—the conibirceioslis
which he collected and marshalled and moved tlei
digiou,i and various force like a single corps. or ft Pli§.
tic animal, or a lifeless instrument in his herd-- f.
played, in the highest degree, the great genius ald'r'
e
arrangement and for action with which Fee was endowich
and his•prodigious efforts to regain ;the ground 'll ~,
the disasters of that campaign rescued from his
could
were only not successful became no human poser°ft]
in a month create an army of cavalry, nor a
wo. 1)0
commend give recruits the discipline of veterans• weo
the hi. tort' of wire it assuredly, only Hannibal re•
can be compared with him ; and certainly, when wi,e,igi•
fleet upon the yet greater difficulties of the Cart".lo
chin's position—the much longer time during
maintained the unequal contest—still more, whellees
consider that his enemies have alone recorded his steed
while Nepoleon ha-, been his own annalist—justice se.pae
to require that the modern should yield to the oriel"
cemmander. sod
The mighty operation which led to his dOWnfti"n
in which all the resources of his vast capacity as we did.
whit we
all the recklessness of his boundless ambition %Weed, of
played, has long fixed, as it well might, the regal wo-
mankind, and it has not been too anxiously 011,00
plated. His course of victory had been for twelve 'been
uninterrupted. The resources of France has"„fruc'
drawn forth without stint at his command, Thc,s; pin"
tion of her liberties had not relaxed the insstr''t:'iliot
nor thinned
h
is
banners. th e muit~te fervour
spiot luerse do of u etrh eP P
i bline' ed u
of the revolutionary zeal had
which a vigorous despotismcool'A' but trseccecles
and the Conscription workesruZs bgTleat t.inviraceee
as the &public. The countless hosts-INhie°
thus sent ferth, were led by this consummate were/
over all Italy, Spain, Germany ; half the ancient thr:ets
of Europa were subverted, the capitals of half her po,:id
occupied in succession ; and. a monarchy establh,oo
which the existence of England and of Russsia
preveted from bein universal•
or
But the vaulting ambition of. the great consegerd per
last overleapt itself. After his most arduous an ere'
haps most triumphant campaign, undertaken with 605015
fusion of military resource , unexampled in the 90
0
of war, the ancient capital of the• Russian empire was
his hands ; yet, from the refusal of the enemy to toil
peace, and the sterility of the vast surrounding cctdi col' •
the conquest was bootless to his purpose. He ha, fro°
lected the mightiest army that the world ever sawee'reeo;
all parts of the Continent he had gathered his force,'
every diversity of blood, and complexion, aptio*-Pre_er
and garb, and weapon, shone along his line hs" „eibu"
citus mixtus ex colluvione omnium gentienetAitoet
non lex, non mos, non lingua communis ; al`„ 7111‘a re:
alia vestis, alia arms, alii ritus, alia sacra"—Teeelois,'O"
sources of whole provinces moved through the 1°,1.'001
which his arms held hi awe ; the artillery °Liao!'"
citadels traversed the fields e the cattle on a t",:eto
hills were made the food of the myriads w'sbeir,
poured into the plains of Eastern Europe, where, reeo
flowed in rivers, and the earth was whitened sue'
s
bones : but this gigantic enterprise, uniforsll,93
cessful, was found to have ne object, when it had
longeran enemy to overcome, and the 51,13"
in vain sued to the vanquished for Pe'lell'srb!
conflagration of Moscow in one night bees° tehl
comfiture, which the frost of another night cc'ereeere;
Upon the pomp and circumstance of unnumtore- theli
riors— their eevalry, their guns, their magszhile%oir °
equipage—descended slowly, flake by flake, the -ta etc'
a northern night. ;—" Tantaque via frigoris inselisirst%,°
ut ex miserabili hominum jumentorumene save"
quum se quisque attollere se levare vellet, din se:pore'
quia torpentibus rigore nervis, vix flectere arletije ,reti
rant." The hopes of Napoleon were blighted ;
trent of his armament was cut off; and his doosit. seed
far more irreversibly than if the cenqueror of a le cgs
fields had been overthrown in one battle, and fcAss',,sis
tive with half his force. All his subsequent el'-untef:
regain the power he had boa never succeeded ic,,e°„ 0E1.1;
trading the effects of that Russian night. The hie lor
genius burnt, if possible, brighter than ever; -001:0
campaigns his effhrts were more than humar" toe',
sources more miraculous than before, his Val°ll. fain;
worthy tif the prize he played for—but all via,es y
his weapon was no longer in his hand—his lisr'cier I'lo
gone, and his adversaries, no more quailing t", to the
sense of his superior nature, had discovered 11170.0,
eincible like themselves, and grew bold in their -befure-
he Mexicans gathered courage, three centuries the iv
from finding vat the Spaniards were subject t°
Ease
cidents of mortality. "
Such was this great warrior, and such was 13e
ey
on which the conqueror rushed. IsThoe.
It is quite certain, that the mighty genius °f of -e0
leou was of the highest order ; he was cse ran ate
greatest maeters of the art of war ;heis to bead tlhat
among the generals of the highest class, it in",e-al Oho
he any but Hannibal who can be placed on a red ip -
him. Tit all the qualities, both in the council and cl'ee
field, which combine to form an accomp'n'r afar
mender, mender, he added, what but few indeed 'te,Spero,(4-y
shown, an original genius : he was so great aril:elle'd`•
on the inventions of others, that he might, 01 eta,
claim to the honours of discovery. The taeticsseasil,st
derick he carried on much farther, and with sis, 1710
portant additions, that we might as well dell jeoo eV
the originating of the steam. engine, as to Nero 6'ojl
being an inventor in military science. The gretser 00
which Frederick made was the connecting ogeeericof
the operations of an extensive campaign .'l3halie!ee
quarters, arid especially the moving vast as ford 0
troops rapidly on a given point, so as to fight leallise
re,
series there at a certain aivantage. This it es'
brave neghct of the establshed rules of tactcs'', oli'd
paired a firm determination to despise fornliclietilt
cies; it required an erasure of the words "s prattle,
impossible" frem the general's vocabulary. -1-° etios,o
tion to all the hardihood of these operationsittietY ef
high merit of their author, and also the C 01.0416,10
their success against the regular mechanical geroeb "tle,
Maria Theresa, to whom he was opposed. :51),,,e5e
tether are we to wonder at the successors of teS'yeovtso
rals, the produce of the same Germanic sclesch,„ of est'
themselves as unprepared for the great exteh'h)sclh;jeo
Prussian syetern, but in the same direction, "1,00
poleon practised, and bring as completely ta,,k,e° fei
becnt, PI
by his rapid movements at Ulm, and -01,05
Wagrarn. as their masters had been at P"'"" ees
r 0 d
Pirna, and at Prague. 1 it"- Or
The degree in which he thus extended•Snt or
upon Frederick's tactics was great indeed. wee dose
ever could bring such bodies into the field ; et; ell
vide by combined operations for their OPP, eo
move such masses from various quarters unc1:0)0 l'hot!'s
none manoeuvre at one fight tho thousands '?l,r.lie.oor
assembled, change his operations as the fate ‘‘'halr',l Ole
or the moment required, and tell with stlh''ol fr;
certainty the effects of each movement. Ile, ,f
knowledge in minute detail which the arytio o),hi
quires; he had a perfectly accurate appreciaty Lela 000
men and horses and guns can do; his rnerocr." eetliSist,
and in an instant, where each corps, each regl or og
gun was situated both in peace tend war, 111.1:eco foot':
condition almost each company of his
any moment. Then he possessed the int

FOR THE REMAINDER OF T 111,,.; 511-
SEE THE SUPPLEMENT TO
THIS DAY.

ie°,7l-7,AOf,
oaf
London : Printed and Published by gUillAflicel
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun
S tra4d, in the Precinct of the Savoy", '
biTddltrai.satuntsty, eqtaabor 20, 1846.