Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-12-21
A Personal GLIMPSE OF THE
GREAT NAPOLEON


NaIoleon advanced elumsily, we airing SIM
pie blue uniform, and with his little hat uud II
bis arm. Farnhagsn shall describe him in his
/" His bearing expressed the struggle between
will that strives After something and contempt
for those who must help him TO obta it. d.
would doubtless have been pleased to make a
favorable impression, and yet it seemed hard V
worth the trouble Of attempting. 1t would cost
| him trouble; for truly he had not the gift by
nature Hence cereiessness and coustrai mt al.
! ternated in his manner, or were sometimes COM
| bined in restlessness and dissatisfaction. He
| first turned TO the Austrian embassy, which
formed one extremity of the semi-circIe. Tas
results OF the unfortunate fete gave rise to macy
questions And observations. The Emper Ir
wished to appear sympxthizing; he even used
phrase or two expressive Of emotion. But he
could not at all succeed in this tone, and dron-
ped IL almost Immediately. His M amer was
less gracious to the Russian Ambassador Kura-
Rim, and IN the course OF his further progress
/ round the hatf-circle, some sight or soma
| thought must have violently irrtsted him for
! he few into frghtful anger, stormed out borri-
biy against one OF those present,(a by no means
! important parsonage, and whose name have
| forgotten, y was disconnected with every answer
MADE TO him, Kept asking fresh questions, scold-
| ed and threatened, and held the poor man a
considerable time in the tortUres of abasement
! The witnesses who stood nearest and beheld the
scene, not without anxiety lest their own turn
| should come next, declared afterward that the e
had not been the least ground for such fury
and that the Emperor had only sought pretex It
t tSa s EN- ms ,l,humer. They said, moreover,
! ing such poor wight for the purpose, in order
that all the others might be cowed, and any,
thing like feeling of defiance toward himself
crushed into submission. As he passed oaward
he but endeavored to converse with more mod
| GRAFTON, his bad humor made itself felt through
ss warls Dtt osdas3Seiy hastily angine down
with passionate rapidly, and even when he
wished TO speak kindly, 1t sounded, neyerthe-
h hess Is ah To ne were angry have hardy
| eyes were deep set, usually fixed on the croun l.
and glanced, only by fits and starts sh arply and
rapidly over those present. When he smiled
only his mouth aud part of his cheeks smiled;
| the forehead and eyes remained i'm moyablV
| gloomy. H-as have sometimes seen on SUB
sequently occasions-he forced these latter to
smile also, his csuntenance wore a still more
distorted expression. This combination of
smiling and sternness had some hing about it
frighttully repulsive. know not VIII n to think
of the people who found this face 'charming'
and were captivated by his amiability! HIS fsa-
lures while possessing undenable plastic beau
truthfulness, incapable OF c0rdiality what he
said was, whenever l heard him speak, trivial
both in matter and expression, without mind
without wit, without power-nay even at timss
absolutely vulgar and absurd. Faber in mis-
Notices sur PInterter de la France, has spoken
in full detail about the questions which Napo-
Icon was accustomed to ask on various Occa-
sons, and which have been so often uniustIy
Landed as showing knowledge and sagacity /
had not then read Faber's book, but later /
found everything had myself seen and heard
confirmed in it. The Emperor's catechiziny
not seldom resembled the proceeding of school
boy, who, not being sure of his lesson, keeps re-
peating to himself under his breath what ne
fears he may otherwise forget at the moment il
is wanted. This, indeed, is literally true OF a
visit Napoleon had made a short time before 10
the great library, where On the staircase he al
ready began to scream out tn at classic passly
in Josephus where he speaks OF Jesus AID
seemed really to have no other care at the mo-
ment than to exhibit his, apparently, newly ac-
quired bit of erudition. 1t absolutely apnaarSd
as though he had learned his questions by heart
He once asked man of some consequence from
northern Germany to what country he belong
ed, and when the gentleman named the pIa e
close on the borders Of Holland, Napoleon Grid
out, half defiantly, half delightedly, he tusn.
ed away: All je sais bien c'est du NOrd c'est
de la HoIlande! He did not come of so forfI.
nately with Lacepede at the natural history
collection. There he took the giraffe for bIs,i
and spoke of the long necked beast as such TO
his wife, who, together with Lacepede, was in a
state of CONSERVATION at the Emperor's ms.
take, so much so, that the latter, observing it,
in excessive dudgeon, The pltiabIe eagerness
with which Napoleon strove to gain admiration
iii the sphere of social convers alton was often
downright lau ghable. He was as unsuccessful
in this attempt as-to our misfortune-he WAS
successful in other things. He preferred 10
make wounding, or at least unpleasant speech
es; but even when he tried to say something I,f- |
1erent, he only reached trivial fnsignidcance at
the on side. For example, once at st. ClOuI [ |
myself heard him repeat twenty times t. a |
whole row OF ladies the same words, III tait |
are reported OF him. and his orders were gau-T-
ally stern and brief. But even hers the DO yer |
Is the chief thing, and the force OF the word. is
due to the Emperor, not to the orator. MANY
happy sallles, which his courtiers were in the |
habit of attrbuting to him, rightfully belonged
to others, who respectfully gave up their int l.
lectual property when il pleased his M ajestv to
pocket it. The gift of el0quenee and agrsea Die
expression which belonged to Alexander, Caesar
and Friedrich, could not co exist with Nsno
Icons nature; the quality of his mind, aud still
more his temperament, forbade it. For this
very reason, because he found himself totally
unarmed on this sort of battle ground, was Ma
poleon above all other men irritable and sensi-
tive to clever, sharp or jesting word against
himself. And a hooking song, a witty lalnp15n
could absolutely infuriate him.
No, II was not in the domains of intellect |
and fancy, nor by means of eloquent spec IN,
that Napoleon Bonaparte attained his aims He |
reached them by his sur passing e-eminence a.
a general and by the iron force OF his will. His
real greatness consists in these Qualities aud IL
is not needful inventively to attribute any
others to him, in order to make him out one OF |
the most extraordinary men that ever lived
GA divinity, II you will, but Plutonian. sui.
phuresus, dark divinity, subject at last-as all
such are forever-to the superior powers OF |
light. gloomy, intrinsically unhappy soul |
Nothing is clearer to me than that in the midst
Of his highest triumphs, the man-when we yet
q glimpse of him as above, beneath the velvet |
nantes bee.embroidered, and other historical |
stage properues-was not happy. And there |
needs no enforcement OF copy-book morality to |
ell US wty.-Temple Bar. ~.