The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-15
| From the AthenHunl. !
r E G OIL TION
BY SAMUEL ROGERS

Samuel Rogers has provided for us in these notes
very singular pleasure. The great people of the
past come before us in the fesh-made visible by a
touch, spell. He calls up the dead by magic
like that of the eye and voice Of an actual narrator
for his record is of Conversations and has all the
scatter and fire, and informal vivid portraiture OF
cal talk, where trait, an anecdote an Interrupt
ton OF voice yields character more distinct and
impressive than more elaborate historical present
ation-Just as ray of sun often catches the truth
OF face with briliancy bevond the studied skill
of the Royal Academican.
We must not keep the reader at the door while
least Is being served within. In month like this,
bright with the rage of battle we turn with eager
hand tothe chapters labeled''Duke of Wellington
catching as we do on every page the name of Bona
parte, and noting that the words are those of the
Duke himself From these the reader will thank
US to serve him without stint. We first of all pick
out the Dukes opinion of the mighty antagonist
whom he met only once-and then so crushed that
he had no need to meet him a second time Wei
llngton himself is speaking of Napoleon:
"Buonaparte in my opinion, committed one of
his greatest errors when he meddled with Spain;
for the animosity of the people was uncomfortable
and 1t was almost impossible to get us out of that
Corner. | have often said it would be his ruin;
though l might not live to see it. A conuueror
like cannon-ball, must go on. If he rebounds his
career is over. Buonaparte was certainly as Gle
yer man as ever lived, but he appears to me to
nave wanted sense on many occasions. At one
time | expected him there lin Spanl in person,
and him by himself | should have regarded at least
as an accession of 40 900 men,
Then again, at Waterloo. Those who sneer at
the bands OF young men now singing Rihemen,
form! should note and digest the few words we have
yentured to mark in italics:
"When Buonaparte left Elba for France was at
Vienna and received the news from Lord Burg
hefsh, our Minister at Florence. The instant it
came l communicated it to every member of the
Congress, and all laughed; the Emperor of Russia
most of ALL What in your letter to his Males
ty this morning. said his Physician; 'for when he
broke the seal, he capped his hands and burst out
laughlngY Various were the conectures as to
whittier he was gone; but none would hear of
France. All were sure that in France he would be
massacred by the people, when he appeared there
remember IaIleyrand's words well; Pour la
France-Non!' Buonaparte never saw: though
during the battle [Waterlool we were once, un-
derstood, within quarter of mile of each other
l regret it much; for he was a most extraordinary
man. 10 me he seems to have been at his acme at
the Peace of Tlsit and gradually to have declined
afterwards. At Waterloo he had the finest
army he ever commanded; and everything up to the
onset must have turned out as he wished Indeed
ne could not have expected to beat the Prussians
as ne did at Lgny, in four hours. But two such
armies as those at Waterloo have seldom met if |
may judge from what they did on that dav 1t was
battle of giants battle of giants! MANY of nv
troops were new; but the neO fight aceH, though
they anuHpuUre Ill; better 1,erhans than 1oouu ,r5o
hare fought and bled. As to the way in which
some ofour ensigns and leutenants braved danger
the boys just from school-it exceeds all telief-
They ran as at cricket
Here is an anecdote of Waterloo told by the
Duke:
ode Lancy with me and speaking to me
when he was struck. We were on point of land
that overlooked the plain, and had lust been warn
ed on by some soldiers; but as | saw we'll from it,
ana as two divisions were engaging below | had
said never mind, when a ball came leapinp along
en- ricochet as it is called and striking him on the
pack, sent him many yards over the head of his
horse. he fell on his face, and bounded upward
fall fln.{
to him; and when l came up he said, pray tell
them to leave me, and let me die in peace had
him conveyed into the rear, and two DAYS after
wards when, on my return from Brussels, saw
him him in a barn, he spoke with such strength that
said (tor had reported him among the killed, J
why, DE Lancy, you will have the advantage OF
Sir ondy in Castle Rackrent; you will know what
your friends said of you after you were dead.' Il
hope shall,' he replied Poor fellow We had
known each other ever since we were boys. But |
had no time to be sorry; | went on with the army
and never saw him again.
From the Prince de Talleyrand Mr. Rogers learn
ed fact or two about the Emperor, which we may
well throw in here:
"That dispatch which Bonaparte published on
his retreat from Moscow, was it written by Him.
self?-By Himself certainly. Which is the best
portrait of him?-That which represents him at
Mamaison. 1t is done by Isabey. The bust gave
Alexander Barring, done by Canova is excellent 1t
stands too low at present Did he shave himself?-
Always; though he was long about it. shaving
a little and then conversing, if anybody was with
him. king Dy birth, said he smiling is shaved
by another. he who makes himself Roi shayes
HIMSELF
Talleyrand on another occasion saws:
"He [Bonapartel was with the army of England
at Boulogne, when he heard of Mack's being at
Ulm. IF it had been mine to place him, | should
have placed him there In an instant the army
was in full march and he in Paris. l attended him
to Strasburg, and was alone with him in the house
of the Prefet-ih one of the chambers there-when
he fell and foamed at the mouth. 'Fermez la porte
he cried, and from that moment lay as dead on the
floor. Berthier came to the door. 'On ne peut pas
entrer. In about half-an-hour be recovered but
what would have been nv situation if he had
died? Before daybreak. he was in his carriage and
IN less than sixty hours the Austrian army had cap
ituated."
Mr.. Rogers adds note to this conversations:
'The story of Napoleon's illness at Strasburg |
repeated to Lucien, who listened to it with great
sang-froid. Have you ever heard it before?'
Never. 1t Is an lntirmity to which many great
men have been subect-Cesar among Others. Ny
brother was once before attacked in the same way.
but then (he said with SMILEY he was defeated
believe s. R."
The meeting of Wellington and Blucher ON the
field of Waterloo, when the shock of battle had
ceased and the hack and carnage had begun has
been often described and painted Here is the Dukes
account, which differs very much from the pictorial
representations of the scene: fr.a
."When all was over, Blucher and met at La
Malson Rouge. 1t was midnight when he came;
a.N ,ainS oP', NC entem Ills arms round me, ana
kissed me on both cheeks as sat in the saddle
was then in pursuit; and as his troops were fresh
halted mine, and leftthe business to him. FIN the
day l was for some time encumbered with the
Corps DiPlomatique. They would not leave me,
say what would. We supped afterwards toge-
ther between night and morning, in spacious tent
erected in the valley for that purpose Pozzo di
Borgo was there among others; and at my request,
he sent of a messenger with the news to Ghent;
where Louis the Eighteenth breakfasted every
morning IN bow-window to the street, and where
every morning the citizens assembled under it to
gaze on him. When the messenger, Russian, en-
tered the room with the news, the King embraced
him; and all embraced him, and one another, all
over the house. An Emissary of Rothschild was
in the street. and sooner did he see these demon
strations than he took wing for London. Not a
syllable escaped from his lips at Bruges at Ostend
or at Margate; nor till Rothschild bsd takan his