Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-10
Napoleon and Moscow q.

~ hoSA OOSn PAOPAOolSo 1hHI ASHo9A@
could not successfully resist Napoleon's
attack, even wh"n q much less over
whelming invasion had been contemplate
ed than had now taken place. And
those prophecies had come true. The
Russians had given up one position after
another, had been defeated in the field,
and finally had lost their capital Only
one anticipation had remained unrealized.
Tha Russians had refused to acknowl-
edge themselves vanquish ed by signing
a treaty OF peace. Their armies still
kept the field, and Landwehr had been
set on foot So far Napoleon's success
had fallen short of his expectation, as it
had done in Spain, where he Lad like
wise been unable to auell the national
resistance. 1t was possibible that this
obstinacY might so far embarrass Ma
poleon as to oblige him to give up the
capital again, to repass SmOleusk, and
continue the war in q position nearer to
his own frontier. But as this frontier
was not, as we are apt to imagine, the
frontier of France, but that Of Prussia
and the Duchy of Warsaw, his position
with respect to the enemy would still be
one of enormous superiority. That he
would remain at Moscow too long and
expose his army to Russian winter,
which might no doubt cause him serious
losses, was surely not to
be imagined. A leader of his experience
would be in no danger of such mis-
calculation, and even lead, accustomed
to strokes of audacity would, when re-
sponsible for so vast an army, be aWed
into prudence. And thus the irmness of
the Russian Gar and nation might be
expected not only to prolong the war, to give
Napoleon such a check as he had received
in Spain, to compel him to adopt other
means for quelling their resistance, but
by no means to cause him any serious
disaster, much less such disaster as
might shake the whole fabric of his
power. 1t would carry US far into the
history Of France If we should try to eX
plain how it could have happened that
such vast destinies should depend upon
the clearness of judgment of single
man, so that fit of rashuess and eccen-
tricity in Napoleon should change the
face of the world and doom millions to
death. It is less intricate question how
Napoleon could be capable of making
the mistake he made at Moscow. We are
to consider that the course he took might
have been completely successful. Alex
anderis frmness might have welded after
little delay to the clamors of his brother
and the entreaties of his mother. Moth
ing is more characteristic OF Napoleon
than his vivid conception of the character
of those with whom he had to deal. We
may imagine that In his mind il was
registered as certainty that Alexander
could not be firm. No doubt another
General would not have dreamed of
stalking the existence even of an ordinary
army upon the soundness Of an impression
of this kind. But Napoleon would not
have been what he was If he
had not over and over again risked every
thing to obtain result that could not be
gained by ordinary methods. Such a
calculation as he now acted upon had
succeeded with him many times before.
He ought, indeed, to have known that he
was not exempt from fsilure. His
Egyptian failure and his bl1nder in Spain
must have cost him many moments of
secret chagrin, butthe world had been so
blind to al this ili-luck and had 80 stead
ily persisted in degrading him as ,nvinci-
bic that hesmaY well have come to believe
himself so. Meanwhile, the scale of his
affairs had become so gigantic that a sin
gle exception to his usual good fortune
might have infinite consequences; tine
slightest alteration in bis mind might be
represented by the complete transforma-
ton of Europe; just as the ininitesimal
displacement of telescope will make g
difference of million of miles in an as
Economical calculation. Thus to explain
the largest and most sudden reverse 81
fortune that the world ever saw we have
to put together three conditions each un.
pfecedented. First, the course OF French
history from Louis XIV, through the
Revolution to Napoleon, had produced
an intense autocracy, unparalleled in tn,
history of civilized States; second, thi!
autocracY was welded by, one who, by
very peculiar course of life, had beer
trained to hazardous strokes of polic7
and strategy, such as. are altogether tor
hidden to ordinary rulers; thirdly, 1t
affairs were on an unprecedented seal
of magnitude, Life and =, Times Of Stein
J. R.,Seeleu !sH4E0 10 So ~ Ja8