The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-01-14

Great Captains--NapOleOn BOnaparte.
Leaving out the chronology of his life and
exploits. which may be found in any of the
numerous works on the subject we will
proceed to give brief sketch of the char
acter of Napoleon Bonaparte. and to exam
inc his claim to the title of greatness. We
have long entertained the opinion that the
first Napoleon was not great man.
1t is not our intention to dispute his claim
to the title of great soldier, but there are
other orders. or degrees of greatness, by
which mankind are more benefited. and to
these Napoleon did not belong. The first
of these is what for want of better name.
may be called moral greatness. Thi s in
.cludes the virtues: justice, tempe rance,
fOrbearance and patriotism. Napoleon had
none of these. He perverted justice to
further his own ends and to Danish into ex.
lie those who loved France better than they
loved Napoleon. OF course, in the narrow
sense of the word he was not Incorporate.
That is. he was not drnnkard, like Alex
ander or Blucher, but he could not bear sue
cess with moderation or misfortune with
dignity; and it is as bad for a ruler and
worse for his subjects for him to be intoxi-
Gated with power rather than with wine.
The patriotism of Napoleon was of the
shallowest kind. Everything was for glory.
nothing for duty; everything for Napoleon.
nothing for France. 1t is said that the word
glory never occurs in WellingtOns dis
patches. always duty; while in the procla
nations and dispatches of Napoleon it is
always glory.
The next order OF greatness is intellectual
preeminence. that is. the ability to see far
in advance of ones own age, to be devoted
to principle that he knows to be right
needless of the praise or the blame of pos
terity and indifferent to the babble of the
''unthiDkng Million" This quality of fmind
Napoleon did not possess. He had the van
ity of Cicero without his eloquence and the
dOgmatism Of Caesar without his knowledge.
The education of Napoleon was exclus-
lively military; and this brings us to the
place in which he belongs. that is, the place
of action; but even here he is eclipsed by
men who lived before and since his time.
Caesar was greater ruler and more mag
unanimous foe; Frederick IL of Prussia was
a greater infantry commander; and both
SeydlitZ and Sheridan were his superiOrs as
officers of cavalry. But as an artillerist
Napoleon never had his equal. 1t was with
this arm of the service he won all his great
'DdtCioS, Ou tllS III uopouuou 10 CRUSH w ol-
lingtOn at Waterloo, which he probably
would have done, if it hadn't rained.
We have often thought that had Napoleon
been leaner man-like Shakspeare's Caesar
he would have been more dangerous.
Men of his build grow cOrpulent early in
life. Had the Napoleon of the hundred
days" been as active as the commander of
the army of Italy. he would have won the
campaign of Waterloo. He would have
precipitated the battle day sooner. thereby
having the English crushed before the
Prussian could strike him in the flank or
rear.
And now appears what to us seems the
most despicable of Napoleon's actions. We
refer to his surrender to the English as the
''most generous of all his foes" Frederick
the Great, under like circumstances, would
have had recourse to poison, or Brutus
like would have fallen upon his own sword.
We repeat it, Napoleon Bonaparte was
not great man. He possessed neither the
patriotism or patience of Washington. the
humanity of Lincoln, or tenacity of Grant.
He is called great man because he was a
great soldier; but he would have statues to
mark the gratitude of people must first of
all, be man. LACON.