North American. [volume] (Swanton, Vt.) 1839-1841, 1840-07-15

monafciirg with one blow OF his mailed
arm, striking terror into the hearts 81 cab.
nets and kings, carving his name as on the
uttermosi parts Of the esflh, and making
empires quake beneath hjs tread as II the
rider OF the Pale Horse in the Apocalypse
wss csreering over the earth. Five times
did o continent coalesce 10 but him down:
and five times did lie shstter their ALI
ances like a potter's vase. ltaIy-Aus-
lria-Prussia went down, like lead before
his blow ; and the fields AZ Marengo, Aus
%terlitz, end Jena, told the kneIl Of their
hopes. Russia herself qusilet before his
desolating march, and gladly embraced his
offer Of alliance. The peace Of Tilsit deliv-
cred over a world 10 the %conqueror OF the
north and the south. Europe was parcelled
out between these gigantic %monarchs, and
they vowed 10 make common cause 90 ainss
mankind. But the possession of ConStan-
tinople proved The apple Of discotd which
finally severed this unholy alliance.
The death-Iike reports IN Europe which
followed the peace oil Tiisit, was The peri
cd at which the power Of Napoleon had
reached its acme. His words gave law
10 Europe. Kings crowded his ante
chamber, queens bore the train Of his
empress, princes played the equerry in his
palace, dvnasties went and came at his
bidding like the pageant Of phuntasmagoria,
and even
"Monarchs bowed the trembling limb,
And thanked him for a throne'
"Bui," in the words Of Lord Brough-
am, s. his valuting ambition at last over
Ieaped itself. 1.-The ember OF discord ex-
isting between him and Alexander, from
his refusal 10 suffer the Russian En-
pereor 10 seize on ConslaniinopIe, was
ultimately inhamed into on rupture, which
the gold of Britain skiIfully famed until it
burst into deadly animosity. A last Goa
li,ion was formed against the French EN-
peror, and 10 arrest it al q blow he deter
mined on penetrating TO the heart OF the
Autocrat's dominions, and debating peace
from Moscow itself. He succeeded in the
first ; but fire and tempest forbade the
last. In the dead of winter he began his
retreat towards Poland. History affords
no parallel to that terrible rout. Weak,
worn out, dispirited, lost 10 a strange land,
surrounded by interminable SHOWS, with
the pitiless storm beating in their faces,
and the fierce Cossacks hanging on their
rear, that late gallant army, whose legions
were as countless as they were invincible,
fell day by day TO pieces, perishing by
sword, tempest, or famine, until its
hundreds of thousands had left their
bones bleaching on the icy soil Of Russia.
When at last the passage of the Boro-
dino closed the tragedy, scarcely a twen-
part Of that million Of men was left.
The rest OF his career is written in
blood and treachery on the one hand, and
the most stupendons efforts to recover his
on the other. But though his
intellect only shone brighter amid the
gloom Of that era Of disasters, his weapon
was fallen from his hands, for his army
was gone. The veterans OF Austerlitz
and Jena, slept the sleep of death amid the
and SHOWS Of Russia.-Defeat met
Them at every turn, treachery stepped in
10 aid in their overthrow, and the rout al
at length hurled them hack, a
Of fugitives, upon the soil Of France.
Then was exhibited the full genius of this
military conqueror. Surrounded
IN every hand, hemmed in like a wounded
ion, with an army not a tvthe Of that Of
lis pursuers, he kept them at bay for a
whole month, turning every way to oppose
hem with the rapidity Of thought, fight
ne often two battles on the same day, and
,nly at last yielding, when treason, for
he fourth time stuck the truncIcon from
lis hands, and his'own household deserted
lim in his sore distress. Could he. AT that
have recalled TO life his old veie.
ans Of BoIoene, he would even from
he lowest ebb Of fortune, have re-insta,ed
himself, and been again 'the thunderer of
he scene" But fate wiiled il otherwise,
md perhaps it was better for the human
ace it should be so. He fell, aud
"Since he, miscalled the morning star.
Nor man nor fend hath fallen so far"
return from Elba was the last. bu.
,rightest, act in this brilliant drama. A
s hole nation which, a twelvemonth since,
Iad cast him off, received him with open
rms, and an enthusiasm bordering upon
madness. But that short though glori-
career is matter Of every day history.
after twice gaining the battle of Water
DO, the arrival of Blucher, and the more
han suspected treason Of Grouchy, struck
i'm a second time 10 the ground. Even
hen he might have saved himself. il the
legislative body had rallied as the people
Wished to, around him. But they would
Iot-and Napoleon became the exile of
It,. Helena.
In all his victories however, and amid his