Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-09-22
From the True Aims of Life.
Bonaparte and Washington.


llto ot that gigantic impersonation of military
skill, whose victorious armies swept, like
hery torrent over Europe in tho commence
ment of this century, inevitably leads to the
conclusion, that it illustrates one of the most
complete and memorable failures, in the pur-
suit OF individual happiness, within the range
OF recorded experience. From the siege of
Toulon to the fatal field of Waterloo, with
different shades of modification and degrees
OF development, tho main principle of his con
duct was the selfish promotion of his own ag-
grandlHemcnt. Power, for its absolute suhiu-
CATION of the will Of othcrs--for its wide pos
sessions and martial pomp and glittering
insigna-this was the constant and debasng
object of his pursuit. Nor was he content
with even the larger prizes of such career.
Ills inordlnate and reckless ambition, stmu-
lated by the visions Of his towering and com
prchonsive genius, stretched beyond the limits
OF the rule he had reared over France, to the
achievement of "A world wide dominatiOn-a
colossal despotism, under the shade Of whose
vast and Upas like foliage, the nations would
have shrunk into abjcct slaves of his authority
and passive instruments of his caprice. And
this wild, terrific dream of nature infatuated
by the lust of its overmastcring passion, he
seriously and mcthodcally attempted to real
izo. 1t was this he sought, when returning
from Italy to Paris, in one long triumphal
procession, after having erected States and
created consttutions-wth the laurcls of Io.
di, Milan, and Mantun, Ancona, Lorcto and
TOlcntino. Trieste, Venice, and Genoa fresh
upon his brow, and seeing, already, in pros
pect the crown of France, and of these, its
conquered dependencies, within his grasp, in
satiate and Unsuitable STILL he planned that
fabulous scheme of Oriental sway, of which
the colonization of Egypt, the control of the
Mediterranean, and the questioning of British
occupation in India, were the trfing incidents
and in the actual prosecution of which, he,
shortly aft2rward, crossed the desert and nav
igatcd the Nile, anc shook their pyramids with
the thunder OF his arms 1t WAS this he
sought when rushing impctuously up the
great st. Bernard, he fell, like Il thundcrbot,
from it's peaks on the Austrians at Marcngo.
1t was this he sought when, rewarded by his
countrymen with the distinction of first con
sui, he intrigued to have this honor extended
to the full period of his life, and, yet unsat-
isGcd, made that very concession the inmedi.
ate stcppng-stonc, tlirougha cringing senate,
to the Establishment of permanent DYNASTY
1t WAS this he sought when, having attained
nobility, with forms Of court|y etiquette, anu
all the empty shows Of regal supremacy, he
mctamorphoscd republican Italy-Italy made
so by his previous interposition--into king
doms and principalties, to be parceled out
among his nearest relatives and favored adhe
rents, and held in feudal subordination to his
crown. 1t was this he sought when, with
half Il million of men gathered on the frontiers
of Poland, he marched, through storm and
flood and famine, over the SHOWS of Russia to
see her capital consumed in the very moment
OF his eXultant entry into its palaces, and com
mcncc that disastrous retreat, whose horrors
arc unparalleled in the annals of hostile dis
comfture. Borodino, Rivol, Austcrltz, Wa
gram what are they all but the bloody
charncl- chambers through which his phrcn-
sled appetite for personal glory followed the
grim and treacherous spectre of universal do
minion? Look ut him now, at the height of
his fancied power tho wind full in the sails
of his ynultng ambition; a crown of crowns
upon his head, sccptrc of sccptrcs in his
hand; canopied under trophies from almost
every climc-wth kings for his vassals, and
the earth for his footstoo False vision =
inspired of Juggling fcnds, /" that keep the
word OF promise to our car, to break it to our
hope look at him yondcr! A poor, wretch
ed, disappointed man-stripped of title, pow
er, country, wife, child, everything mock
ing himself in the solitude of confinement with
an intantile stimulation of his former state :;
his tlccting splcndor vanished like soap
blown-bubblc-a stupcndous wreck, hopeless
ly cast out on barren rock of the seas. With
out pride enough 70 oHdure; without grace
enough to repent WASTING his few last days
in idle repi,htigs, and finally passing, with
feverish,'ireams of carnage, from the earth he
had devastated to the deity he had bias
phemed, in the midst of howling tempest.
Such arc the fatal issues of the abuse OF
power Let us now turn to an equally prom,
inent, and almost simultaneous instance, OF its
iud cious employment for the ends of right
Our own chronicles supply the theme in their
initial page | speak of him, whom modern
civilization halls as the purest spirit that ever
drew nations sword to vindicate nations
honor; whose fame is as clear and lustrous as
the dawning sun in the heavens and to whom
grateful country, moved not by the prurieul
vanity of martial exploits, but by the deepest
homage the heart impulsively renders to illus
trious worth, has given, for the first time in
the history of mankind, the single title Of
Father. 1t is reported of Bonaparte, that
when on the eve of departure for Egypt, being
assured, in reply to his inquiries, by some
American youths, in whose society he chanced
! to be, that Washington was well, he reioined
"Ah, gentlemen Washington can never bt
otherwise than well. The measure of his fame
| is full Posterity will talk of him, with rev
! erence, as the founder of great empire wher
my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolu