Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-10-13
CHARACTER OF
NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE,
BY Counsellor (Charles) Phillips, Of Ireland.
He is fallen!

like some ancient RUN, whose lrown ter
rifed the glance its magnificence attract
ed. Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he
sat upon the throne, sceptred hermit,
wrapt in the solitude ofhis own originality.
A mind, bold, independent, and deci-
sive--a will despotic in its dictates--an'
energy that distanced expedition, and a
conscience pliable to every touch of in
terest, marked the outline Of this extra
ordinary character-the most extraordi-I
nary, perhaps that in the annals OF the
world, ever rose, reigned or fell.
Flung into life, in the midst of a revo-
luton, that quickened every energy of a
people who acknowledged no superior,he
commenced his course, stranger by
birth, and scholar by charity!
With no friend but his sword, and no
fortune but his talents, he rushed into the
lists where rank, and wealth, genius had
arrayed themselves, and competition fled
from him as from the glance Of destiny.
He knew no motive but interest-he ac-
knowledged no criterion but success-he
worshipped no God but ambition, and
with an eastern devotion he knclt at the
shrine of his idolatry. Subsidiary to this,
there was no creed he did not profess,
there was no opinion that he did not pro-
mulgate; in the hope Of dynasty, he
upheld the crescent; for the sake Of a di-
vorce he bowed before the cross: the or
phan of St. Louis, he became the adopted
child of the Republic: and with Parri-
cidal ingrat;tude, on the ruin both of the
throne and the tribune, he reared the
throne Of his despotism
A professed Catholic he imprisoned
the Pope; patriot, he impoverished the
country; and in the name Of Brutus, he
grasped without remorse, and wore with
cut shame the diadem of the Caesars
Through this pantomine of his policy,
fortune played the clown to his caprices.
At his touch crowns crumbled, beggars
reigned, systems vanished, the widest
theories took the colour Of his whim, and
all that was venerable, and all that was
novel, changed places with the rapidity
of a drama. Even apparent defeat as
sumed the appearance. of victory-his
flight into Egypt confirmed his destiny
ruin itself only elevated him to empire.
But if his fortune was great, his gen.
ius was transcendant; decision flashed
upon his councils; and it was the same to
decide and to perform. To inferior in
tellects, his combinations appeared per-
fectly impossible, his plans perfectly i'm
practicable; but in his hands simplicity
marked their development and success
vindicated their adoption.
His person partook the character of
his mind-if the one never yielded in the
cabinet, the other never bent in the field.
Nature had no obstacles that he did
not surmount-space no opposition that
he did not spurn; and whether amid Al
pine rocks, Arabian sands or polar SHOWS,
he seemed proof against peril, and en-
powered with ublquity! The whole con-
tinent of Europe trembled at beholding
the audacity of his designs, and the mir
acle of their execution. Scepticsm
bowed to the prodigies Of his perfor-
mances; romance assumed the air Of his
tory; nor was their aught too incredible.
for belief, or too fancitul for expectation,
when the world saw the subaltern Of Cor
sica waving his imperial flag over her.
most ancient capitals. All the visions of,
antiquity became common places in his
contemplation; kings were his people,
nations were his outposts; and he dispos-I
ed Of courts, and crowns, and camps, and
churches and cabinets, as if they were
the titular dignitaries ofthe chess board
Amid all these changes he stood i'm
mutable as adamant. 1t mattered little
whether in the field or the drawing room
with the mob or the levee-wearing
the jacobin bonnet or the iron crown
banishing Braganza, or espousing a,
Hapsbourgh-dictating peace on a raft
TO the car Of Russia, or contemplating
defeat at the gallows ofLeipsec-he was
still the same military despot!
Graded in the camp he was to the last
hour the idol Of the army; and whether
in the camp or in the cabinet he never
left friend or forgot favor. Ofall his
soldiers, not one abandoned him, till af-
fection was useless, and their first stipu-
lation was for the safety ftheir lavourite.
They well know that if he was lavish
Of them, he was prodigal of himself; and
that ifhe exposed them with peril he re-
warded them with plumber. For the SOL
der he subsidized every people, to the
people he made even pride pay tribute.
The victorious veteran glittered with his
2 aims; and the capital, gorgeous with the
,poils Of art, became the miniature metro
,olis of the universe. In this wonderful
;ombipation, his affectation of ls1rature
must not be omitted The jailor of the
re IS, he affected the patronage of let
,rs-tbe proseriber of books. he encour-