The sun., 1893-05-07


exceeded his leave OF absence or bocause b
was suspected Of a tressonubls purpose. Nd
poleon's name was at this time stricken fror
the lists OF tile army. In tho spring OF lfo
we ind him in Paris. cut OF from his profes
sion and SO poor that he thought OF keeping
lodging irouse. Later. however. when th
Duke OF brunswick invaded France and thu
services OF every educated officer were needed
he regained his commission. This was not thu
only occasion on which Napoleon narrowly es
capped dsbnrment from a military life. Aftei
tho capture OF Toulon. which was indisputablJ
due to his management OF the artillery. he was
made a General OF his arm. but. on tho fal
| OF RobesDierre. who had recognized his aoil'
ity. his name was erased from tho roll OF Cen
erals in active service. Again for some months
| he fell into extreme poverty. and so desperate
was his position that hs thought Of Offering
| his services as q volunteer to the Sultan. and
addressed a memorial to the men in power
| proposing to reorganize tho armies OF the
| Porto. Suddenly however. he was replaced on
| tho active list by u now Minister of War. who
| knew him 10y reputation. and who employed
him to draw UP plan for operations In Italy.
This scheme. which at the moment was pro-
nounced insane" by men OF routine. foro-
shadowed the memorable cam paign OF 1Ioa
Yet even now his position was prccarious. and
II was not assured even by his rescue OF tho
Convention and Directory on the 18th Vcnds-
miare by dispensing the Sections with grape
shot. 1t was not this achievement but his
marriage with Nine. De Beauharnais which
gave him his first Erent opportunity. As the
Director Barras had been one OF Josephine's
lovers. he felt that debt was duo to Napo-
leon. and. through his powerful interest. the
young General received the command OF the
Army OF Italy. With this incident ends the
preparatory life Of Napoleon. All he had
lacked was a 1T occasion to demonstrate his
surprising genius. He was conscious that
only in q preliminary stage was tho aid OF
others indispensable. He said nt this time
to Josephine: DO these people imagine that
need their help to riser They will be glad
some day to accept mine. My sword is at my
side. and Will 60 far with It,"
We pass at once from tho earlier to the latter
days ofNapoleon because these. like those. are
still subjects OF controversy Mr.. Morris points
out that the flight from Elba was by no means
an unprovoked breach OF treaty obligations.
The Government OF Louis XvIII. had In DIFF
ferent ways broken tho treaty made on Ma
polcon's abdication. and had refused him the
funds 1t had promised to pay. Moreover. tho
question had been seriously rnised in Vienna
OF removing him from Elba to o safer place OF
banishment Neither has Mr. Morris any
doub bt that the overtures made to the allies ty
Napoleon after the resstablishment OF the
pire were sincere. lie offered to accept the
France OF 1914. to observe the treaties made
with the Bourbons. nay. to acQuiesce in what
had been done at Viennn. and he assured tho
allies that his first thought was OF peace.
How was he answered. His envoys were
stopped at the frontier: his letters were inter-
cepted and treated with contempt: he was de- |
scribed as o public enemy outside tho pale OF |
the law: and war deadly and universal was |
proclaimed against him. Not q few disinter- |
ested students Of history will agree with Mr.. |
Morris in thinking that. although Napoleon
had once been justly deemed a dlsturber OF |
he world and his original ostracism had been
in part deserved. the eytravagant fury and |
hirst for revenge which tho conduct OF the
allies in 1915 revealed can be explained only
oy their passions and fears and BY their ap-
for the spolls they had made their
OWN. The clemency shown by the regstab-
ished Emperor to the Duo d'Angoulame.
'et free. though taken in arms against him.
stands In marked contrast with tho cruel and
'indictive spirit Of the heads Of old Europe
The author Of this book does iustics to Ma
ooleon's unrivallsd power OF administration as
|
which he effected In tho course Of
ew weeks. Although the exact figures will
probably be never ascertained. It appears
hat In March. 1915. the army Of Franco
ould not have mustered $1,000 soldiers ready
or the field. whereas by tho middle Of June it
hd at least 100000. This force was sup
orted by 100000 In reserve. and. in few
lonths. the armed strength OF the State would
ave exceeded 6OO.OJ0 men. It Is possible
hat even Waterloo would not have crushed
apoleon had tho French nation. which had
anctioncd his return to the throne. intrusted
i'm with Dictatorship AS o matter OF fact he
ave to France n Constitution much more lib
raj than that OF Louis XVIII. and the resultant
legislature betrayed him in his hour OF need.
In his account oithe Waterloo cam paign Mr..
Iorris differs in some respects from Mr.
opes He thinks that Napoleon's purpose
as to place his army between tho forces OF
llcher and Wellington. and thus obtain IN
pportunity OF striking one after another
hio they were divided. He holds that the
ttempts to justify the strategy OF Blncher
nd Of Wellington. especially OF the last. on the
9TH OF June. do not bear examination. He
sys the Duke knew he was outgencralled,
nd all but admitted this to the late Mr..
revile. There Is a tradition that wellington
Sclaimed when informed OF Napoleon's ad-
nnce. The ID fellow has gained ,wenty-
'ur hours over mel! 1t is also Mr. Morris's {
onrlction thar. had the orders to Noy been
rompty and effectively carried out. Blucher
ould have been destroyed at SombrcfYe and {
ellington placed In extreme danger. The 4
peration prescribed for Ney was not difficult. I
nd had hs been tho warrior OF 1867. he q
'uld have accomplished the movem ent which d
ould probably have changed. for a time. at a
j events. the fortunes OF Europe. But Ney. \
ke most OF the French chiefs. had lost the q
'nldence OF the old triumphant days; he Z
'ught. too with halter round his neck nfter
Is open desertion Of tho Bourbon cause; he n
as AFRAID to press forward. and he did not q
asten the march Of his subordinates behind. =
hese delays gave Wellington Just time n
nough to repair the grave mistakes of tho Y
9TH; his troops reached Quatre Bras by de. 6
rees in force an indecsive combat took placo 4
nd Nsy ultimately fell back without even an. -
roachinG Sombrefle. though he had pre. =
anted Wellington from joining hands with /,
lacher. But for Ney's blunders the 10000 7
on under DErlon would have attaclo1 n
tlAI