, 1865-06-06
From the Spectator May 49,
SULTAN NAPOLEON.

COURSE, - GtyluS W dCG tlc AIdU. Al d
proclamation OF the 9th inst, addressed
to the natives as distinguished from the
colonists of Algeria, he is visibly endea-
vouring to play the Sultan, to speak to
Moslems as he thinks a Mussulman So
vereign would speak, to show them that
though a Frank he can sympathizc with
an Oriental population. The plan is
one which has constantly struck the ina
gination of Europeans of genius invested
by circumstances with the government OF
great Oriental tribes-it would, could it
but succeed, be so successful. The Eu-
ropean feels that if he could but once
get en- rapport with his subjects, could
but induce them to trust him, could but
fairly use the boundless powers they con
cede for the great ends which he desires,
he might effect so much good. He knows
that the immobiIity Of the East is a fic-
ton, that the instinct of an Asiatic is to
follow, that could he himself but once
excite confidence, he might lead in any
direction and to almost any height. The
temptation to any far-sighted man is
great, and to one who is at once far
sighted and ambitious is almost i~rreslSti-
BILE. Nor do we know hat the end
sought is absolutely and in itself unat-
tainable. 1t is true that while AsIatlC
thought has largely influenced Europe,
while one Asiatic tribe has moulded our
theology and another laid the foundation
of our science, no European, with the
doubtful exception Of Aristotle, has great
" influenced the thought, or the history,
or the civilization of Asia. But still In
dividuals have been accidentally success
full. There have been one or two indian
satraps who have changed nomad tribes
into civilized races, one or Two renegades
who have saved the MussuIman power in
Europe, one or two missionaries who, In
Burmah and Japan particularly, have led
ASiaticS to encounter death rather than
surrender new ideas. But the rapport In
these cases has been accidental no Eu-
ropean, so far as we know, has establish
ed it of design. Napoleon tried, and
though his mind was in many respects
Oriental he left no impress in Egypt.
Lord Peterborough tried, aud he only en-
countered the ridlcule of his own coun-
trymen. Napoleon III. is trying under
circumstances in many respects %favoura-
BILE, and he also will fail, and for the same
reason-an inability to comprehend tho
roughly the races with whom he is strlv-
ing to sympathize. AS usual, he is able,
he has hit upon the one point In which
his family creed and Oriental philosophy
p TO come in contact, namely, fatal
ism, and he hopes through that to show
those he addresses that he and they think
alike. Conscious that he is a fatalist, he
appeals to the fataIism Of the Arabs as q
thought which must respond to his own.
"Accept," he says, accomplished facts"
God has given you to me, why not then
submit I honour the military pride
which induces you before yielding to ap-
peal to God in arms, but God has decided.
Acknowledge "that what God directs is
well directed" and all will be we'll. 1t is
very clever, as clever as Lord Ellenbo-
rough's misunderstood attempt to prove
to the hundred millions of Hindoos that
he had avenged their cause upon the IF
teen millions of Mussulmans, and it will
fail as the Somnath proclamation failed,