Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-02

and perhaps always will be, on the question whether Napoleon did in fact deserve to be called great man. It would be impossible to dispute the great qualities of one who, rising from obscurity, has become in @ few years the strongest and most powerful of his contemporaries. But strength, power and superiority are more or less relative terms. To appreciate properly the degree of genius which has been required for man to domi- nate his age it is necessary to have the meas ure of that age. This is the point from which opinions with regard to Napoleon diverge so essentially. If the era of the Revolution was, as it's admirers think, the most brilliant, the most glorious epoch of modern history, Napo- leon, who has been able to take the first place in it, and to keep it for fifteen years, was cer- tainly one of the greatest men who have ever appeared. If. on the contrary, he has only had to move like meteor above the mists of gen. eral dissolution; if he has found nothing around him but the debris of social cond- ton ruined by the excess of false civilizations if he has only cad to combat resistance weakened by universal lassitude, feeble rivalries, ignoble passions, in fact adversaries everywhere dis united and paralyzed by their. .disagreements the splendor of his success diminishes with the facility with which he obtained it. Now, as in our opinion this was really the state of things, we are in no danger of exaggerating knowledging that there was something extra ordinary and imposing in his career. The vast edifce which he had constructed was ex- clusively the work of his hands, and he was himself the keystone of the arch. But this gigantic construction was essentially wanting in it's foundation the materials of which it was composed were nothing but the ruins of other buildings !; some were rotten from de- cay, others had never possessed any consisten- cy from their very beginning. The keystone of the arch has been withdrawn, and the whole edidcs has fallen in. Such is, in few words, the history of the French Empire. Conceived and created by Napoleon, it only existed in him and with him it was extipguished."
 The two volumes now published cover the period from 1793 to 1915, beginning with the birth of Metternich and ending with the cee- brated Congress at Vienna. They are for sale in this city by Judd the bookseller.
 Communism and Socialism, in their His tory and Theory" by Dr. Theodore D. Wool sey, is well described as the most philosophi- cal and thorough examination of these two projects and experiments that has been made in g popular way by an American writer. Chapter I. states the definition and essence of Communism and Socialism. Then follows a consideration of 'smaller communistic socie- ties within the State," such as the Buddhist monks, the Christian monastic system, the Shakers, etc. Chapter III. treats of Commu- nistic theories and Utopias; chapter ". of the International Workingmen's Association i; chapter V. of Socialism in Germany; chapter VI. of Schaef ffis's "Quintessence of Social ism;" chapter VII. of recent Socialism in it's relations, etc. In chapter VIII. the future prospects of Socialism are considered, and the author expresses his opinion that it will not succeed The chapters on the International Workingmen's Association and German Social ism are specially valuable, and the whole work is clear and convenient digest of a somewhat confusing topic. Published by Charles Scrib- ner's Sons, New York, and for sale in this city by Judd the bookseller.