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

DIED

On the 19th ult., in Gardiner-street, Dublin, Robert Haig,
Esq., of Dodderbank, aged 82.
On the 16th inst., • Mary, the wife of Peter Rolt, Esq., of
Hyde-park-gardens.
At Penearron, Bodmin, J. B. Carstthrs, Esq.,- aged 75.
M Ls Rochelle, Dudley Codes, Eeq.

CHARACTER OF NAPOLE°N•dis
(Prom Historical Sketches of Statesmen who .Flowish.e
....
the Time of George 111. By Henry Lord Brit"'
F.R.S.) London: Charles Knight, Ludgate-Lill •
üb,
After Lafayette had quitted :the armies of the l?Pey,
lie, defaced by the crimes of 1792, and CarnOt holl:04
long the director of their marvellous achievementsefs hi
standing by his country in spite of all the excessiriven
which she was disfigured, had at length been °ivies,
from her side by the evil men that swayed her deg
ss' for
victory, long so familiar to the French people' wf theit
a season estranged from them, and the period 0 weed
conquests seemeti„at last to have arrived. A 'l,ler do
yet more triumphant course was then begun, o° st es'
genius of Napoleon Buonaparte certainly the Otos',
traordinary person who has appeared in modern food,
and to whom, in some respects, no parallel can be for
if we search the whole annals of the human raee'rsie,
though the conquests of Alexander were more extieliod
and the matchless character of Caesar was etnbs,' rof
by more various accomplishments, and the in'eue,'l,"
Mexico and Peru worked their purposes of stibit%
with far more scanty means, yet the military 00,1
Napoleon shines with a lustre peculiarly its eit
which he shares with Hannibal alone, when we red
that he never had to contend, like those conquerersiiitt
adversaries inferior to himself in civilisation or disuP
but won all his triumps over hosts as well order'?s
regularly marshalled and amply provided as hisly i l
l,
This celebrated man was sprung from a go": 0
in Corsica, and while yet a boy fixed the atteatio
raised the hopes of all his connexions. In earL, ftit
his military genius shone forth ; he soon gei-0.66
summit of his profession ; he commanded at tWeen.'oo
a military operation of a complicated and diffieo?bc tbf
in Faris : being selected for superior command ;if?,
genius of Carnot, he rapidly led the Frenelt,ed,
through a series of victories till then unexatoPi 0 c 0
to which, even now, his own after-achievetne° ye
alone afford any parallel, for the suddenness, lite #
mence, and the completeness of the operatioesfiop&
much of his success was derived from the meehan,eeo
herence of his adversaries to the formal rules of 7,0,
tactics cannot be doubted.; and our Wellingtellbg
paigns would, in the same circumstances, aniLlibe,
been opposed to similar antagonists, in all ZOO'
have been as brilliant and decisive. But in thiatt7.lise"
that he always had to combat the soldiers bred to of
leon's school ; while Napoleon, for the most 1),700
matched against men whose inveterate propeos`,,tipettf,
low the rules of an obsolete science, not even tif'd tr,
pie of Frederick had been able to subdue ; Pool
were resolved upon being a second time the veieridj I
the same obstinate blindness which had, in!rebrd!
days, made genius triumph over numbers uf It O'',
through rules repugnant to common sense. ;doll
however, be confessed, that although this CO itP6
accounts for the achievements of the great voll'-te'dol.
else had been impossible, nothing is thus &tiled net"
his praise, eXcepting that what he accomplisbe,er .1;:e
to appear miraculous : for it was his glory nf' to g.'y
an error pass unprofitably to himself; nor ever re,
his adversary an advantage which he could o°trod‘
from him, with ample interest, before it was to d`
any fatal account. of fi
Nor can it be denied that, when the fortune re (et
proved adverse, the resources of his mind wehesaf',
drawn forth in the more ample profusion. After PiiseDf)
of Asperne he displayed more skill, as well as cC/etill>,
than in all his previous campaigns ; and the streggaieg 0'
he made in France, during the dreadful eetr oil' .
preceded his downfal, is by many regardeu,„eg r, 1
masterpiece of his military life. Nor let us regard get
04
the grand errror of his whole career, the roigiiie rj's
dition to Moscow, was a political error only wt.,'
preparations for that campaign—the comilin°„'l,"is P'
which he collected and marshalled and moved t'clat°:
digious and various force like a single corps, °,_r i'„,l4
tic animal, or a lifeless instrument in his Pil-glitt;
played, in the highest degree, the great genius ~ao4
arrangement and for action with which lie was en-d fh,,,
and his prodigious efforts to regain :the grcat, 50:i
the disasters of that campaign rescued from o'er'
were only not successful because no human Pecilotli
in a month create an army of cavalry, nor o 0, ,'
command give recruits the discipline of vetelo f,
.the history of war, it is, assuredly, enly Han% for./
can be compared with him ; and certainly, velf,ol
fleet upon the ;yet greater difficulties of the bid/
man's position—the much longer time during when,
maintained the unequal contest—still more, vfs oil,
consider that his enemies have alone recorded 11'04
while Napoleon has been his own annalist—jostleof
to require that the modern should yield to the
commander. falf f
The mighty operation which led to his down iiell,„
in which all the resources of his vast capacity were e'd
all the recklessness of his boundless ambition 11;51.0.,
played, has long fixed, as A well might, the reerblin
mankind, and it has not been too --anxiouslYL if,
plated. His course of victory had been for Weil If„
uninterrupted. The resources of France 11$ jeer
drawn forth without stint at his command. Theripf
tion of her liberties had not relaxed the martial,
sities of her people, nor thinned the reunite ie;00!
poured out their blood under his banners. Tht'scipliP;
of the revolutionary zeal had cooled, but the herd
which a vigorous despotism secures had 5 Directe,
and the Conscription worked as grehilch err, ,
as the Republic. The countless hosts w;:te w A
thus sent forth, were led by this consul:l'llra thrr_jw
Spain, Germany . half th,rehlriber go 7 over all Italy,
of Europe were subverted the vitals"' Iv et° 11s-
occupied in succession • caa- onto', e • al'
which the existence of' England /
prevented from being universal.
But the vaulting ambition of the 'if
great C°llloo.
last overleapt itself. After his most arduous 4,0 0
haps most triumphant campaign, undertaken 10;00
fusion of military resource, unexampled in ,P2altsa
of war, the ancient capital of the Russian enirio ill!<,
-ngland ted of Russsla
his hands ; yet, from the refusal of the enemy ~,1101,
peace, and the sterility of the vast surrounding;so,
the conquest was bootless to his purpose. 11° f, ; r
lected the mightiest army that the world ever al.l ferce,'',
all parts of the Continent he had gathered lid tort,,F,s
every diversity of blood, and complexion, 8- "P'so
and garb, and weapon, shone along his line r" 4111„.
citus mixtus ex colluvione omnium gentiora'vetre',
non lex, non mos, non lingua communis ; a1ii,3,9 tht4
alia vestis, alia arms, . alii ritus, alia sacra '"
ii, opt; is
sources of whole provinces moved through the j.„( et
which his arms held in awe ; the artillery of et
citadels traversed the fields ; the cattle on e ...' boo d
hills were made the fond of the myriads re blip,
poured into the plains of Eastern Europe, whqth ttle't,
flowed in rivers, and the earth was whitened o'l le s'l„e
bones : but this gigantic enterprise, unifor.9,3 Pi,
cessful, was found to have no object, when ~1,,t iffql
longer an enemy to overcome, and t'''
,e, 'O,
in vain sued to the vanquished for Pee'(' biOlej;
conflagration of MOSCOW in one night begs°,„pletf
comfiture, which the frost of another night 0-fed tejr
Upon the pomp and circumstance of unnuinbe',, vof
riors— their cavalry, their guns, their ruagezLitiesso(po
equipage—descended slowly, flake by flake, tileetita,La
a northern night ;—" Tantaque via frigoris gig; or;iir
ut ex in miserabili hominum jumentortonclu; qte'te
quum se quisque attollere ac levare vellet, di° ,7,e,s Pei
quia torpentibus rigore nervis, vix flectere ar""tse 'i
rant." The hopes of Napoleon were blighted ;_..,' ovi:i
treat of his armament was cut off ; and his dootelid
far more irreversibly than if the conqueror of t' bdecetru
fields had been overthrown in one battle, and nistfoater,
tive with half his force. All his subsequent, e ottsfo
regain the power he had lost never succeeded ill,e„ of ",s
trailing the effects of that Russian night. The 1- "iii 1,,,
genius burnt, if possible, brighter than ever; oro
campaigns his efforts were more than hums"' r o,',
sources more miraculous than before, his yaks:, st).,l';;
worthy of the prize he played for—but all v(slrthe
his weapon was no longer in his hand—his 9.det 'V
gone, and his adversaries, no more quailing It° to ~
sense of his superior nature, had discovered 11100, re,
vincible like themselves, and grew bold in their "selliz.
the Mexicans gathered courage, three centuries tbe St
from finding that the Spaniards were subject t° e
t cidents of mortality. be 0
Such was this great warrior, and such was ,„,,
' 11
on which the
certaq conueror rushed. f ;' Pe
It is quite in, that the mighty genius of
of 10i
leou was of the highest order ; he was one 1.01;re
greatest masters of the art of war ; he is to bed 014
among the generals of the highest class, if intleetet ofte
be any but Hannibal who can be placed on a lea. Old.'
him. To all the qualities, both in the council ir.pa ecr
field, which combine to form an acconanhsrve e ,:'
mender, he added, what but few indeed P:l,oool,'''
shown, an original genius : he was so great allilic';
on the inventions of others, that ho might 'of i;,,,
claim to the honours of discovery. Tha tactictills*
derick he carried on much farther, and with gip IV
portant additions, that we might as well deny icons'"
the originating of the steam•engine, as to .Nar„,t '',ll
being an inventor in military science. The gr"b-sbe, of
which Frederick made was the connecting ta'oti°el
the operations of an extensive campaign illodie,4l
quarters, and especially the moving vast 13, od'i 0
troops rapidly on a given point, so as to fight hi'',lr,/
caries there at a certain advantage. This rill' it 00
brave neglect of the established rules of tactica,; Aed
quired a firm determination to despise forenidat'egitre
Iles; it required an erasure of the words " ditPe„-sorae
impossible" from the general's vocabulary. In reagroi
tion to all the hardihood of these operations tta A
high merit of their author, and also the certs'olollo
their success against the regular mechanical ge,„titjech tee'
Maria Theresa, to whom he was opposed. 5•9,.'"4 ggi g
rather are we to wonder at the successors of t"e'ehoels .
rats, the produce of the same Germanic school, s of
..fit,
themselves as unprepared for the great extension,ch eo
Prussian system, but in the same direction, wil„lo4stot
poleon practised, and being as completely takeollota la
by his rapid movements at Ulm, and his
barb,
Wagram. as their masters had been at lts" d
Pirtle, and at Prague. proto
The degree in which he thus extended and 1.,41:°0 0,.0,
upon Frederick's tactics was great indeed. „`-,03 Pus
ever could bring such Bodies into the field ; none
e; ,t;
vide by combined operations for their suPP% poi-,3
move such masses from various quarters upon °I3 be r
ot
none manoeuvre at one fight the thousands wh°l9,lo lute
assembled, change his operations as the fate °hi "oseoo
or the moment required, and tell with sae A 011 4
certainty the effects of each movement. Ile I'7 vv at
knowledge in minute detail which the art (.4 of 1"
quires; he had a perfectly accurate appreciationld it/
men and horses and guns can do; his ruensorY tut, e't
and in an instant, where each corps, each regioleii 13°t
i° s
gun was situated both in peace and war, anti WO •
condition almost each company of his vast force looe'e
any moment. Then he possessed the inttliti") c.. 10,

FOR THEA'Cr:REMAINDER OF THE
SEE THE • SUPPLEMENT TO THE
THIS DAY

101
London: Printed and Published by 11.1.URD9 teg
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Six 0b0e,,,, 4010'
I*in4 the f.4.avoy,. jaiN.'7"
• sl - sat tfiturish Septeibir 20,1140.