The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-20

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49, -, ore know Of the work in question.
sr,.. p.-;.,, takes advantage Of this biography
:, tndt.. a dissertation upon WRLLrScTos,
nj. lie. deeds, and character, military and po-
,,ic.i and upon this view Of him we propose
10 make few remarks.
Tho writer In the Rsvisw very justly re-
marks, that = comparison between WKLLIse-
roS and NAPOLEON IL very difficult. II he
had said Impossible, he would probably have
expressed tho truth with still more distinct
meas There was. in truth, NO comparison
whatever between them. The one was man
lect were combined in such aston ishing per-
f.c,,on that ALLISON the bittsrest OF Tories,
And. with regard TO NAPOLEON In particular,
thu roos, Unfair and unreliable OF historians,
4. forcsd 70 confess that he was the most
h,~hlv riftcd man Of whom there Is any ac-
count This eulogy has often been reprinted,
hn. VIA cannot resist the temptation to insert
I, here. "Never." says ALLISON, "were talents
~ ,he highest. genius Of the most exalted
Wind moro profuseiy bestowed upon human
beinx. or worked out to greater purposes OF
rood or OF evil. Gifted NJ once with clear
intellect, vivid imagination, and n profound
judgment; burning with the fervid passions
and poetic glow OF Italy, and yet guided by
the highest reasoning and rejecting powers /;
1t once An enthusiastic student Of the exact
scisnces, and a powerful mover Of the gen.
srous affections; endowed with the soul Of elo-
quence, the glow Of poetry, and the fire Of
Imagination, he yet knew how TO make them
ali subservient TO the directions OF sagacious
reason and the dictate OF extensive observa-
lion. He was not merely iilustrious on &C.
count Of his vast military achievements, but
from his varied and often salutary civil eff
forts. He was not n great man because he was
\ sreas General he was great General be-
cause he was great man. The prodigious ca
pacity and power OF attention which he
brought to bear upon the direction Of his cam
paigns. and which produced such astonishing
results, were but a part OF the general talents
which he possessed, and which were not less
conspicuous in every other department,
whether Of government or abstract thought.
IT was hard TO say whether he was creates,
in laying down strategcal plans for the gen.
srai conduct OF a campaign, or in seizing the
proper direction of an attack on the field of
battle, or In calculating the exact moment
when his reserves could be most efIectually en-
ployed. And those who are struck with
Constituent at the immense information and
Just discrimi nation which he displayed at the
Council Board, and tho varied and important
public Improvements which he set on foot
in every part of his dominions, will form
very inadeq uats conception of his mind, I'M
less they are, At the same time, familiar with
the luminous and profound views which he
threw out on the philosophy Of politics in
the solitude Of st. Helena. Never was eynced
Q clearer proof OF the truth which practical
ACQUAINTANCE with men must probably have
impressed on every observer, that talent of
the highest order is susceptible of any appli-
cation; and that accident, or supreme direc-
ton, alone, determines whether their posses
sor 10 10 become a HOMER, BACON, or a ma
roLBoN 1t would require the observation of
aTHUoYpIDEs, directing the pencil Of n Ia
CITus, to portray, by fow touches, such II
character; and modern idioms, even in their
hands, would probably have proved made
quate 10 the task. Equal TO ALEXANDER in
military achievement, superior to JrsTINIAN
in legal Information, sometimes second only
to BACON in political sagacity, he possessed,
4. l.
81 of HANNIBAL and the administrative power
Of CESAR. Enduring of fatigue, patient of
hardships, unwearied in application, no diff
cuities could deter, no dangers daunt, no OBJ
stacles impede him. constitution Of iron, a
mind, the ardor of which rendered him almost
insen.ible TO physical suffering enabled him
to brave alike the sun of Egypt and the SHOWS
of Russia; interchangeable in previous prepara-
ton, calm and collected in the moment of dan
ger; often on horseback for eighteen hours
together, and debating, almost the whole
night, to his secretaries he found brief pc
Rod for slumber during the roar of the bat
tie, when the enemys balls were falling
around him. Nor was peace period of re-
pose to his genius, or the splendor Of Courts
q season merely Of relaxation. Though not
insensible to their attractions, though often
never the slave of their pleasures female
charms exerted only transient sway over
his passions, and never clouded his reason;
and when surrounded by the pomp of king
OF kings, he was increasingly employed in
conducting the thread Of interminable nego-
tiations, or stimulating the progress Of bene
ncent under-kings.' - ALIsoN's History.
chap. lxx]
1t is said, in some Of the many Grecian or
Roman writers upon that inexhaustible sub
ject, the second Punic war, that HANNIBAL and
ScIPIo met many years after the battle of
Zama at the court Of ANrIooHus, and that the
Roman General, fishing possibly for com.
pliment, asked the Carthaginian which Of all
the Generals that had ever lived he consd.
cred the greatest "ALExAKDER the Great ;,
replied the latter without hesitation. (Which
next y "PHILIP OF Marcedon," Tor some other |
person,iwe do not rccollect precisely nor is il |
materially (which next !" "Myselfn SLOW |
then Do you rank me p "If Won had p.rer
lived should have ranked myself above Al,
others" II WELLINGTON had never urod
NAPoLBoF would be considered. at this da,'
BY everybody. the greatest General that .xer
lived. Now though SoIrIo defeated HWY.
BAL in single battle, and thereby nut an end
TO the war and TO the Independence of Gar.
thaxe nobody but a Roman ever thought him
equai 10 HANNIBAL. So, at this day, very few
persons who are not Englishmen, think WEI
LISGTcS comparable to NAPOLEON, although.
like SCIPIo with regard to HANNIBAL, he de-
feated him in single battle We mean no dis |
paragement to the British General, when we |
assert that there is no comparison whatever
between the previous deeds of the two men,