The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-09-30
BoNAPARTEs CAPTIVITY.

decided improvement on his former ef-
fort, but, as it is fully noticed else
where III THE HERALD, we do not de-
sire to dwell upon it here at length only
to discuss the features of life which,
with the never-ending and constantly
revolving process of thought. come up
before us now and then like the misty
visions of childhood or the endless line
of reflection inculcated by our first
training and associations.
The writer was taught to regard Ma
poleon as talismanic term in history,
and Bonaparte as the grandest name
that ever flashed and faded before an
astonished world. The teaching was
not altogether wrong, for, by some
criterions, it was wholly right. The
school books teemed with glorification
of the man who "sat upon the throne
sceptered hermit, wrapped in the soli-
tude OF his own originality" kings
being his subjects and nations
his outposts. To the juvenile
fancy there is something so full CT
grandeur and so suggestive OF prefer
natural greatness even in the laudatory
words of Napoleon's commentators that
he became, with but slight effort OF
the mind, colossal figure erected upon
an imperishable pedestal whose compo-
nent parts were fame, glory and honor.
How easily we are led, and how tract-
able is the mind OF youth Of what
unsubstantial materials greatness can
be constructed and fame achieved when
the object is viewed by the eyes Of
childhood aided by the telescope of in
experience! To read of Napoleon in the
school-books is at once to conceive of a
demi-god whose word was law, whose
actions were invincible and whose
dominion was terminable at his own
option only-a man grand, gloomy
and peculiar" the like of whom never
rose or reigned or fell" But what are
the factsP
He made everything subservient
to his own selfish ambition, and
would have sacrificed a million lives,
if need be, to push aside the slight
est obstacle in what he considered the
path of greatness and the perpetuation
of his dynasty. Men were simply the
means by which he accomplished pur-
poses and under his control were the
things which, united and governed,
made him the central figure OF the
world. To occupy that place in the
history of his own time and that OF
the future, he bent all his energies 10
such an extent as the salvation of q
score OF empires would not atone for. He
crossed the Alps in the dead OF winter,
sacrificing lives fully as precious as his
own, and for what? That any OF his
race might be freed from bondage? That
greater prosperity might result to any
of his race? That such dominion rs
would add to the happiness OF man, or
such conquests achieved as would strike
terror to the hearts of tyrants near al
hand or abroad? To free people strug-
Cling in the throes OF national or
domestic tyranny? No. The Emperor
of the French and King OF Sardinia
would be Dictator of Europe, and tie
lives of legions of men and the sacrifice
of countless treasures were regarded as
of no more consequence than the "tiu-
lar dignitaries of the chess board"
Napoleon was not great man unless
wholesale murder, organized incendiar-
ism and unrestrained pillage make men
great. He was a conspirator against
the peace of the world, and the object OF
his conspiracy was the furtherance OF
his own selfish schemes; he was an
enemy to his race, because he permitted
ard even caused them TO die in sweep.
ing torrents, in filthy swampS, in drifts
of everlasting snow and amid the smoke
and fame of battle To no purpose Other
! than the qualification of whIm. Life
in his estimation, was simply a means
to an end in the hands of controlling
power. He divorced the most faithful
of wives in order that he might make al
experimental marriage and place il
the line of succession an offspring
whose continued reign has plunged
France into bloodshed, misrule and
insecurity, by being constantly on The
verge of internal warfare and rendered
feeble because of the superstition.
loyalty which the more ignorant of hel
population still cherish for the name Of
Bonaparte.
We agree with the lecturer that Eng
lands treatment of her captive was un
necessarily harsh and in some instances
severe to the point of brutality; thus
far and no further.