Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1840-12-15

mRn power could in month create an ar
my OF cavalry, nor a word OF command
give recruits the discipline OF veterans
In the history Of war, it is, assuredIy, on
Y Hannibal who can be compared with
him and certainly, when we reflect upon
the yet greater difficulties Of the Carthage
mans position-the much longer time du-
ring which he maintained the unequal con-
tesl-stiIl more, when we consider that AIS
enemies have alone recorded his story,
while Napoleon has been his own anna'ist
Justice seems to require that the modern
should yield 10 the ancient commander.
The mighty operation which led to ms
downfall, and in which all the resources
OF his vast capacity as well as all the reck-
lessness Of his boundIess ambition were
displayed, has long fixed, as it well might
the regards of mankind, and it has not been
too anXiouSly contemplated. His course
Of victory had been for twelve years unin
terrupteG. The resources Of France had
been poured out without stint of his com
mand. The destruction Of her liberties had
not relaxed the martial propcnsitics Of her
people, nor thinned the multitudes that had
poured out their blood under his banners.
The tcrVor Of the revolutionary zeal had
cooled, bat the discipline with a vigorous
dcspoi5m secures had succeeded, and the
ConscriptIon worked as great miracles as
the Republic. Thus countless hosts which
France thus poured forth, were led BY this
consummate warrior over all Italy, Spain,
Germany; half the ancient thrones Of Eu-
rope were subyerted, the capitals Of half
the powers occupiedin SUGGESTIONS sand mo-
narchy was established which the existence
of England and Of Russia alone prevented
from being universal.
But the vaui;jng ambition OF the great
conqueror at last ovoShot itself, After his
most arduous and perhaps most triumphani
campaign, undertaken with a prolusion OF
military resources uneXampled in the an
nails OF war, the ancient capital 1.-THE Rus
sian empire was in his hands; YET, from the
refusal of the enemy to make peace, and the
sterlIny Of the vast surrounding country,the
conquest was boolIess 10 his purpose. He
had collected the mightiest army that the
world ever saw; from all parts Of the Con-
tnent he had gathered his forces; every
diversity Of blood; and complexion, and
tongue, and garb, ans weapon, shonc along
his line; -" Excrcilus mixtus cx nonmos,
| non Iingua communis ajus habitus, ALA
VESTS, ALA arma, alii ritus, ala sacra"-
the resources OF the whole provinces NOV
ed through the Kingdoms which his arms
held in awe the artillery Of whole citadels
traverSed the fields !; the cattle on thou
sand hills were made the food of the N.Y.
riads whom he poured into the plains ofEas-
tern Europe, where blood flowed in rivers,
and the Garth was whitencd with mems
| bones ; but this gigantic enterprise, uni
rormly successful, was found to have no
object, when it had no longer an enemy
! to overcome, and the victor in vain sued
to the vanquished for peace. The confla-
! grafton of Moscow in one night began his
discontinue, which the frosts Of another
night completed Upon the pomp and cir
cumstance Of unnumbcred warriors their
cavalry, their guns, their magazines, their
equpag e-descendeds slowly, flake by flake,
the snow Of a northern night; "Tantaque
Wis frgOrls lnsecuta est, ut ex lila msera-
bib homnum ImentOrumqne stragc quinn
Sc quisque attolere &C levare veIlet, diu
!
viX fiectere artus poterant" The hopes
Of Napoleon were bIigated; the retreat
OF his armament was cut off; and his doom
scaled far more irreycrsUly than if the
conqueror of hundred fields had teen
overthrow in battle, and made captive
with half his force. All his subsequent
efforts to regain the power he had lost ne
yer succeeded in countervaiing the effects
Of that Russian night. The fire OF his
genius burnt, if possible, brighter than ev-
er; in Two campaigns his efforts were
more than human, his resources more mi
raculous than before, his valor more wor-
! thy Of the prize he played for-but all was
in vain his weapon was no longer IN his
/ hand his army was gone and his adj
versaries, no more quaiIing under the feel
ing of his superior nature, had discovered
him to be yincible like themselves, and
grew bold in their turn, as the Mexicans
gathered courage, three centuries ago,
from finding that the Spaniards were sub
ect to the accidents OF mortality.
Such was this great captain, and such
was tho fate on which the great conqucrer
rushed
1t Is quite certain that the mighty genius
OF Napoleon was of the highest order: he
was one OF the greatest masters Of the art
OF war; he IS 10 be ranked among the ge-
neralS OF the highest class, if indeed there
be any bat Hannibal who can be placed on
a level with him. To all the qualities, both
| IN the council and in the field, which com
blne TO form an accomplished commander.
/ he added. what but few indeed have ever