Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1839-01-11

or discipline but won all his trIUmphs over
posts as well ordered and regularly mar
shalled and amply provided as his own.
This ce lcbrated man was sprung from
good family in Corsica, and while yet
bow, fixed the attention aud raised the
hopes of oil his connections In his early
youth his military genius shown forth; he
soon gained the summit OF his profession ;
he commanded at twenty-five a military
operation Of complicated and difficult ma
ture in Paris imme diately after he rapidly |
led The French armies through series OF
victories ill then unexamplCd, and TO which |
even now his own after achievements can
alone afford any parallel for the sudden
ness, the vehemcnce, and the completeness |
of the operations. That much of his sue
cess was derived from mechanical adher-
ence of his adyersaries to the formal rules
of ancient tactics cannot be doubted; and
our Wellington campaigns would, in the
same circumstances, and had he been OPP
posed TO similar antagonists, in all likeli |
hood have beer as brilliant and decisive.
But he always had to comba, he soldiers
bred in Napoleon's school, while Napoleon,
for the most part, was matched against
men whose inveterate propensity to follow
the example of Frederick had been able to
subdue; and who were resolved upon be-
ing second time The vict inns Of the same
obstinate blindness, which had, in Fredcr-
lck's days, made genius triumph over mum
bers, by breaking through rules repugnaht
to common sense. 1t must however, be
confessed. that although this consideration
accounts for the achievements of this great
warrior, which else had been impossible,
nothing is thus dctracted from, his praise
excepting that what he accomplished ceas
es to be miraculous ; for it was his glory
never to let an error pass unproiiably TO
| himself; nor ever to give his adversary an
advantage which he could not ravlsb from
him. with ample interest before it was
turned to any fatal account. Nor can 1t
be denied that, when fortune or war proved
adverse, the resources Of his mind were
ONLY drawn forth ia The more ample protu'
sion. After the battle of Aspern he dis.
PLAYED more skill, as well as constancY,
than in all his previous campaigns; and
the struggle which he made in France, du
ring the dreadful conflict that preceded
his downfall, is by many regarded as the
master piece o! his military life. Nor let
Us forget that the grand error OF his whole
career, the mighty expedition to Moscow
was political error only. The vast prep
aratons 'or that campalgn-ihe com5na
,ions by which he collected and ma-ahailcG
and moved this prodglous aud various
force like Il single corps, or domestic an
jmal. or lifeess instrument in his hand
dispayed in the highest degree the great
oenins for arrangement and for action with
Which he was endowed; and his prodlglous
efforts TO regain the ground which the
disasters of that campaign rescued from MS
grasp were only not successful, because no
human power could, in month create an
army of cavalry, nor word of command
. give recruits the discipline OF veterans. In
| The history of war, it is, assuredly, only
Hannibal who can be compared with HIM
:, and certainly. when we reflect upon the
vet greater difficulties ofthe Carthagenlan'
F.. posilon-the much longer time during
which he maintained the unequal contcs
still more, when we consider that his en-
emies have alone recorded his story, Will,
S Napoleon has been his own annallst jus
e tice seems to require that the modeu
, should yield to the aOclcnt commander.
But NaHoleon's genius was not confined
! to war; nghpossessed a large capacity als'
Z,
quickly determined on his course. in gov
. eminent as in the field. His public works
and his political reformatlons, especially hi
Code Of Laws. are monuments OF his WIS
e dom and his vigor, more imperIShable,
O time has already proved, and as h:msel
proudly foretold, than all his Victories
His civil courage was more brilliant tha
u his own, or most other mems valor in III
o. field. How ordinary bravery it was tina
:. blaZed forth at Lodi, when he headed hi
- wavering columns across the bridge sweE
% BY the field of Austrian artillery, compare
q with the undaunted and sublime Courag
IA that carried him from Cannes to Paris wit
handful OF men, and fired his bosom wit
~ the desire, and sustained It with the cor
y tidencc, of overthrowing a dynasty, an
J. overwhelming an empire by the terror I
M his name!
:. Nor were his endowments merely thos
III of the statesman, and the warrior. II i
was no. like Cesar, a consummate orao
he yet knew men so thoroughly, and espC
cialv Frenchmcn, whom he had most nea
n. ~ studied, that he possessed the faculty
addressing them in strains of singular eli
quence,- Ian eloquence peculiar TO himse
W 1t is not more certain that he is the create
at soldier whom France ever produced, thi
T. it is certain that his place is high among
US her greatest writer's, as tar as composite
IS. or dic,ion is concerned. Some Of his bu
tn etins are models for the purpose whi(
DO thew were intended TO serve his adore
in to the soldiers of his Old Guard at Fo
of tainbleau, is masterpiece OF dignitied al
ed pathetic composition; his speech duriI
no | tho Hnndrod DAYS nj the ChamD de Mar
p beginning, General, Consul Empereur,
in items tout du Peuple, Is to be p'ac
if amongst the most perfect pieces of slmF
an and majestic eloqnence. These things a
x not the less true for being seldom or new
Ii remarked.
by Blu, with these great qualities of the "