The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-12-12
YOUNG NAPOLEON.
STRIKING PICTURE OF HIS CHAR
ACTER AT TWENTY.
His Appearance Was Not In General
Noteworthy - He Had Shown
Himself Ambitious, CalcuIat-
ing, and Masterful.

TROFESsOR WILLIAM M.
- Sloane's new life of Napo-
leon, which is running in the
Century, gives striking pic
ture of Napoleon's character at the
time of the breaking out of the French
Revolution. Professor Sloane says:
The appearance of Bonaparte in his
twentieth year was not in general
noteworthy. His head was shapely,
but not uncommon in size, although
disproportionate to the frame which
bore it. His forehead was wide and
of medium height; on each side long
chestnut hair-lanky as We may sup
pose from his own account of his per-
sonal habits-fell in stiff, fiat locks
over his lean cheeks. His eyes were
large, and in their steel-blue pupils,
lurking under deep arohed and pro-
jecting brows, was penetrating quail
ity which yelled the mind within. The
nose was straight and shapely, the
mouth large, the lips full and sensu-
GUS, although the powerful projecting
chin diminished somewhat the true
effect of the lower one. His COM
plexion was sallow. The frame of his
body was in general small and fine,
particularly his hands and feet, but
his deep chest and short neck were gi-
gantic. This lack of proportion did
not, however, interfere with his gait,
which was firm and steady. The
student Of character would have de-
clared the stripping to be self-reliant
and secretive, ambitious and calculat-
ing, masterful but kindly.
In an age when phrenology was
mania, its masters found in his era
mum the organs Of what they called
imagination and causality, of individ-
uality, comparison and locality-by
which jargon they meant to say that
he had strong power of imagining
and of inductive reasoning, knowl-
edge of men, Of places, and of things.
The life of the young officer had thus
far been so commonplace as to awaken
little expectation for his future: Poor
as he was, and careful of his slim re-
sources, he had like the men Of his
class, INDUCED his passions to cer-
tain degree, but he had not been riot
GUS in his living, and he had not
debt in the world. What his educa-
ton and reading were makes clear
that he could have known nothing
with scholars thoroughness except
the essentials Of his profession. But
he could master details as NO man be.
fore or since; he had vast fund of
information, and historic outline
drawn in fair proportion and power
full strokes. His philosophy was
meagre, but he knew the principles of
Rousseau and Raynal thoroughly. His
conception of politics and men was
not scientific, but it was clear and
practical. The trade of arms had not
been to his taste. he heartily dis
liked routine, and despised the petty
duties of his rank. The profession,
however, was q means to an end; of
any mastery of strategy or tactics, or
even interest in them, he had as yet
given no sign, but he was absorbed in
contemplating and analyzing the ex-
ploits of the great world.conquerors.
In particular his mind was dazzled. by
the splendors of the Orient.as the only
field on which an Alexander could
have displayed himself, and he knew
but what few great minds have
grasped, that the interchange Of rela-
tions between the East and the West
had been the life of the world. The
greatness Of England he understood
to be largely due to her bestriding the
two hemispheres.
Up to this moment he had been q
theorist, and might have wasted his
fine powers by further indulgence in
dazzling generalizstions, as 80 many
boys do when not called to test their
hypothesis by experiences. Hence
forward he was removed from such
temptation. His plan for an elective
council to replace that of the mobiles,
and for national militia, had been
matured. He was cautious and prac-
tical experimenter from the moment
he left Auxonne. Thus far he had put
into practice none of his fine thoughts,
OF the lessons learned in books. The
family destitution had made him a
solicitor Of favors, and, but for the
turn in public affairs, he might have
continued to be one. His own inclin.
ations had made him both good stu.
dent and a poor officer /; without field
for larger duties he might have con.
tinued as he was. In Corsica his line
of conduct was not changed abruptly ;
the possibilities of greater things
dawning gradually, the application Of
great conceptions already formed,
came with the march of events, not
like the sun bursting out from behind
q cloud.
Travelling by way of AK, Napo.
leon took the unlucky Lucien with
him. The wayward but independent
younger brother, as he tells us in his
published memoirs, making 10 allow
ance for the disdain an older boy al
school is supposed to feel for q young
er one, blood relative or not, had beer
repelled by the cold reception hie
senior had given him at Brienne. Hav
ing left that school against the advice
of the same would-be mentor, his suit
for admission to AK had been fruitless