The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-30 00:00:00

SPECIMEN OF HUMAN NATURE.

" Paris, so late the capital in which his will was law,
and where to have uttered a word in his disparagement
would have been thought worse than blasphemy, was be-
come the scene of his rival's triumph and his own disgrace.
The shouts which used to wait on the Emperor were now
welcoming to the Tuilleries Monsieur, the brother of the
restored King, who- came in character of Lieutenant-Ge-
neral of the Kingdom ;.—the presses, which had so long
laboured in disseminating the praises of the Emperor, were
now exerting all their art and malice in exposing his real
faults, and imputing to him such as had no existence. He
was in the condition of the huntsman who was devoured
by his own hounds. It was yet more affecting to see cour-
tiers, dependants, and even domestics, who had lived in his
smiles, dropping off, under different pretexts, to give in
their adhesion to the Bourbons, and provide for their own
fortune in the new world which had commenced at Paris.
It is, perhaps, in such moments that human nature is seen
in its very worst point of view; since the basest and most
selfish points of the character, which, in the train of ordi-
snealrio, and bee
life,m aynoemveerthbee ar‘uvlainkgenerdininciptoles existence, show them-
in such revolutions..
Men are then in the condition of well-bred and decorous
persons, transferred from an ordinary place of meeting to
the whirlpool of a crowd, in whiCh they soon demean them-
selves with all the selfish deaire of their own safety or conve-
nience, and all the total disregard for that of others, which the
conscious habits of politeness have suppressed, but not era-
dicated. Friends and retainers dropt from the unfortu-
nate Napoleon, like leaves from the fading tree; and those
whom shame or commiseration yet detained near his per-
son, waited but some decent pretexts, like a
rising
of wind, to sweep them also away- The defection includ-
edthe Mame-
all ranks, from Berthier, who shared his bosombcroeuattlh-
cils,h diso os side,
tb s apartment,
and acted as a body-guard. It would be absurd to cri-
ticise aßnudstsaenld,owmhwo absent seancrtosfgrotmhe
ticise the conduct of the poor African, but the fact and
mode of Berthier's departure must not escape notice. He
asked permission to go to Paris about some business, say-
ing he would return next day. 'He will not return,'
said Napoleon, calmly, to the Duke of Bassano. 'What r
said the minister, ' can these be the adieus of Berthier ?'
I tell you, yes—he will return no more.' The abdicated'
sovereign
attachment of several faithful servants was only tried and
had, however, the consolation of seeing that the
purified by adiersitY, as gold is by fire."
NAPOLEON'S GOVERNMENT.
" The faults of B
com-
menced, were rather those.
Ill3naParte, we conclude as we corn-
than of the individual.' Wisely is •
say we have no sin we dece:vfe yit written that if we
not in us. It was the inordinate theOufsfooevrlcve ere: Ogf andsn a'ambitionitdheP°tri uttivtchhich is
made him the scourge of Europe; it was his efforts to
disguise that selfish principle, that made him combine fraud

with force, and establish a regular system for deceiving those
Whom he could not subdue. Had his natural disposition
been coldly cruel, like that of Octavius, or had he given
way to the warmth of his temper, like. other despots, his
private'history, as well as that of his campaigns, must have
been written in letters of blood. If, instead of asserting
that he never committed a crime, lie had limited his self-
eulogy to asserting, that in attaining and wielding supreme
power, be had resisted the tempt!ttion to commit many, he
could not have been contradicted. And this is no small
praise. His system of government was false in the ex-
treme. It comprehended the slavery of France, and aimed
at the subjugation of the world. But to the former he did
much to requite them for the jewel of which he robbed
them,: He gave them a regular government, schools, in-
stitutions, courts of justice, and a code of laws. In Italy,
his rule was equally splendid and beneficial."