The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-09-18
Lamartine's Opinion of Napoleon.

Lamartine's Opinion of Napoleon.
In Lamartine's new work on the Rest0r-
alton, he portrays the Emperor Napoleon
,as perhaps never Frenchman before depict
ed that extraordinary man, at one time SO
emphatically and literally the idol Of the
whole people of France. We are some
what curious to know how such sentiments
as the following are received in tina Repub-
lic:--
WHAT NAPOLEON DID FOR FRANCE AND
FOR HIMsELF.-He left freedom chained,
equality compromised 10y posihumous insti-
tutions, feudalisIn parodicd, without power
TO exist, human conscience re-sold, phios-
ophy prescribed, prejudices encouraged, the
human mind diminished, instruction mate
riaIiZed and concentrated in the pure
sciences alone, schools converted into bar
racks, literature degraded by censorship, or
huinbled by baseness, national representa-
ton perverted, election abolished, the arts
enslaved, commerce destroyed, credit ami
hilaled, navigation suppressed, information
al hatred revived, the people oppressed, or
enrolled IN the army, paying in blood or
taxes the ambition OF an unequalled soldier,
hut covering with the great name of France
the contradictions Of the age, the mlseries
snd degradation of the country. This is
the founder! This is the man IA man in
stead Of IA revolution Ia man instead Of an
epoch!- man instead of country ia
man instead Of nation! Nothing after
him!-nothing around him but his shadow,
making sterile the eighteenth century, nb-
sorbed and concentrated in himself alone.
Personal glory will be always spoken of as
characterizing the age of Napoleon; but il
will never merit the praise bestowed upon
that of Augustus, of Charlernagne, aud of
Louis XIV. There is no age; there is only
a name; aud this name signifies nothing to
humanity but himself.
False IN Institutions, for he retrograded;
false in policy, for he debased; false in NOR
ais, for he corrupied; false in civilization,
for he oppressed; false in diplomacy, for he
isolated-he was only true in war; for he
shed torrents of human blood But what
can we then allow him? His individual
genius was great; but il was the genius of
materialism. His intelligence was vast and
clear, but II was the intelligence of calcple-
Iion. lie counted, he weighed, he measur-
ed; bur he felt not; he loved not; be svinpa-
thized with none he was statue rather
than man. Therein lay his nteriority to
Alexander and to Cesar; he. reseinble,l
more the Hannibal of the Aristocracy.-
Few men have thus been moulded, and
moulded cold. All was solid, nothing gush-
Ell forth, in that mind nothing was moved.
! His metallic nature was felt even in his
style. lie was, perhaps, the greatest wri-
ter OF human events since Machiavei.-
Much superior to Cesar in The account OF
bis campaigns, his style is not the written
expression alone; it is the action. Every
sentenre III his pages Is, so 10 speak, the
counterpart and countcr-i impression of the
tact. There Is neither a letter. sound, or
color wasted between the fact and the
word, and the word is himself. His phras-
es concise, but struck off with ornament,
recall those tunes when Baiazet aud Char.
lemaghe, not knowing how to write their
names at the bottom of their imperial acts
dipped their hauds in ink ami blood, and
applied them with all their articulatons i'm.
pressed upon the parchment. 1t was no
the signature; it was the hand itself of the
hero thus fixed eternally before the ewes
ana such were the pages of his campaign:
dictated by Napoleon--the very soul ol
movement, OF action, and of combat.
1 his fame, which constituted his morali-
'nerited, by his nature and his talents. from
war and from gioiy; and he has covered
with 1t the nauIe of France. France, Obliged
to accept the odium of his tyranny and hi.
crimes, should also accept his glory with O
serious gratitude. She canno, separate he,
name from his, without essening il: for i
is equally incrusted with his greatness a,
with his faults. She wished for renown
10 tn hue I,,t l.
principally owes to him is the celebrity sht
has gained in the world.
HIS PORTRAIT IN ISl4.-The empire has
made him Old before his time. Gratife,
ambition, satiated pride, the delights of ,
palace, a luxurious table, a yoluptuou
couch, youthful wives, compIaisapt mis-
tresses, long vigils, sleepess nights, divide,
between labor and festive pleasure, the bab
II ct constant riding which made him cor
pu!ent--al tended TO deaden his limbs an,
enervate his faculties. An early obesit,
overloaded him with flesh. His cheeks
formerly streaked with muscles, and hoI
lowed by the working of genius, wer,
broad, full, and overhanging, like those o
Ohio IN the Roman medals of the empi, q
All excess Of bile mingling with the blood
gave yellow tiHt to The skin, which at
distance looked like varnish of pale gol,
on his counteDance. His lips still prescrv
ed their Grecian outline and steady grace
passing easily from smile to a menace. -
His solid bony chin formed an appropriate
base for his features. His nose was but
line, thin and transparent. The palenes
OF his cheeks gave greater brilllancy to IN
blue of bis eyes. His look was searching
unsteady as a wavering Aarne--an emblem
OF inquietude. His forehead seemed u
have wideDed, from the scantiness of hi
thin black hair, which was falling from III
moisture Of continual thought itmight h
said that his head, naturally small, had in
creased in size to give ample scope betwee,
his temples for the machinery and comhi
nations of a mind, every thought of whicI
was an empire.
The map OF the world seemed to hav
been encrusled OH the orb of that refectiv
head. But it was beginning to yield; an
he Inclined il often on bis breast: Will
crossing his arms like Frederick Ian a,
tltude and gesture which he appeared to al
feet. Unable any longer to seduce his cou,
tiers and his soldiers by the charm Of youth
IL was evident he wished to fascinate then
uy the rough uensive anil <;sd.;cf.,I !. r. a .