Weekly Trinity journal., 1869-08-14
Napole ON the Great.

enough Selhshness, developed to its highest
point in nature of exceptional energy, would,
ii We Judge rightly. be described by the author
the predominant characteristic of the man. At
tached to his family as constituents of his great
ness, fond of his soldiers as the instruments of
his ambition, loving France as the scene of his
glory, he was yet ready at any moment to sacri-
flee family, army and country to the advance
ment of his own interests or the qualification ot
his vanity. Constitutionally humane, be would
sacrifice the lives of thousands on the battlefield
without the slightest compunctioe, and would
sanction the preparation of a murder-like that
of the Duke d. Enghein-for no other reason than
an impression that show of vigor would
strengthen his position. But analysis of charac-
ter is not pursuit for which Mr.. Lanfrey seems
to us to have any special fancy He describes
the acts of the hero of his narrative and leaves
the reader to draw his own conclusions as to the
motives which led to these actious. He takes
indeed, an almost morbid delight in showing
how the indifference to convictions of every
kind, the freedom from pre- udces, the absence
of moral considerations, which constituted Ma
poeon's strength, constituted his weakness also
and led to his ultimate downfall. Without prin-
ciple himself, he could never credit the exis-
tence of it in others indifferent to truth or JUS
tice he could never realize the influence that
these qualities exert over mankind; devoid of
the instinct os patriotism he always overlooked
its operation as an element of human affairs
So it came to pass that time after time he Conn
mtted blunders and involved himself in diff
culties which men with not one-tenth part of
his ability, bnt with n truer appreciation Of hu-
manity. would have avoided. Indeed, the chief
moral NJ. Lanfrey has to teach is, that the world
has given Napoleon l. credit for clearness of
vision and grasp of mind which he was far
from possessing. The expedition to Egypt, the
proposed invasion of England, The naval cam
paign which terminated in Trafalgar, the con-
quest of Prussia, were all, as the narrator en-
deavors to show, gigantic folles due to an over
weening vanity, and redeemed only from the dis
aster which ought to have followed them, partly
by luck, still more by the errors of Napoleon S
opponents. In fact if this view is correct, the
march to Moscow is only the logical termination
of the imperial career. When you think -
to quote the authors words" of the marvel
lous instrument which he welded in his hands,
and of the unworthy use to which for so long a
time, he applied it with impunity, your imagin-
alton carries you back to those magic powers
who play so important part in Oriental tales.
So long as the hero retains the talsman every
| thing prnspers with him beyond the bounds of
possibility. The principles which govern other
men have for him no existence. Unheard of
prodigies arise withont effort under his uncon-
scious hands. He knows neither good nor evil :;
he laughs at impossibilites. He mocks at his
pleasure, Mt all that is just and sacred From
bim madness becomes genius; imprudence
skill inqnity, justice and the more he tram
Piles under foot all rules of wisdom, right, and
common sense the more his success swels and
grows and fills the world. The very laws of
nature seems to he upset; mankind contem-
plates with superstitiOus terror the sinister glory
of the meteor. They are ready to defy this priv
leged. invUlnerable mortal. whose astounding
fortune can he compromised by no crime. weak
ened by no folly. One day the talsman is broken
or lost and of sudden the god disappears.
There is nothing left but a wretched lunatc :;
you ask whether this elect of destiny has not
been its victim, and your mind hesitates in per-
plexity between horror and pity. Such is the
history of Napoleon ~
CAFE COP WoMEY.-Nowhere else in all New
England will one see so high an average of fe-
male beauty of figure, and hair and skin, as
among the young girls of the peninsuar towns
on Sunday, and in no place is the change pro-
duced by the lapse of years, from twenty to
thirty, so painful and obvious. For the rounded
complete matronly beanty of the second span of
married life, one may look without seeing a sim
gle instance. The cause of this is not far Off
and suggests itself at once to one who sees the
congregations of women, with here and there an
old sick among them, and then skips all
the years of active life down to early childhood
before he finds the male again represented.
For it is true that in the fishing season there
no men or boys on shore, and If you go among
the groups of bright, happy girls who do not re-
member the cloud that hangs above them, you
will find that nine out of ten of them look for
ward to a union with one who is now away, and
who expects to spend his life fishing in the sum-
mer, and coasting in the winter. Now, imagine
one of them sitting in her little home, two years
married, with her baby in the cradle and the
northeaster bowling without. She knows too
well that at that moment he may be struggling
in the breakers, while the highland light that
she can see glares down pitilessly upon his
agony for she has only to climb a spur of land
behind her house to the skeleton of ship
from which the cruel waves tore the desperate
handholds months ago, and left the husband and
father to sink in sight of his own home, without
a friend to aid. The gravestones in the church
yard will; not let her stand between them, even
for moment, fo- they tell how in single night
sixty-seven women of one little town were left
widowed and desolate. How little can we Won
der, then, at the premature decay, when we re-
member that the inevitable sorrows of woman 5
lot, in whatever station, these others, more in
tense and perpetual, are added-Sprinafeld Re
publican.