Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-02-18
NAPOLEON
FROM A New STANDPOINT.
nY FREDERIC MASON.

Il
would be taken as pre-emiDently the
hest known. To say nothing OF his own
personal memoirs and his mountain OF
correspondence edited under his
nephew. NAPOLEON Ill, the literature OF
the century has been made up In larRe
/ part OF studies Of the Corsican. ana
/ yet, such Is the devotion OF parusansnlp
the awe, it may be said-of great per-
/ sonality, that the real Napoleon, Inc
man, the lover, the husband, has been
] fairly left untouched until to-day. IL
might even be supposed shat the world
had tired of hearing Of him. But
volume now enlisting absorbing interest,"
not only in France but In Europe, proves
that the man, after all, is the most In
teresting study OF mankind, says the
Paris correspondent of the New YORK
World.
Frederic Mason has undertaken to
reveal the lovers side, as IL may oe
called, OF Napoleon, from mis- precocious
youth to the day be died at st. Helena.
The book is what may be called rev
elation," for, though many OF the names
and episodes treated have been vaguely
touched before, the present autaor mas
buttressed his statem5 by documents
which q court OF law would be compelled
to pronounce unim Deachable. And. In
deed, without documents the Napoleon
presented in Frederic Masson's volume,
Napoleon and Women" would be
hardly credible. For II there is one sa-
| liency in NaDOleOn's character that
! stands out beyond others in the record
ed actions OF his life, it is his determin-
/ ed hostility TO feminine interference In
/ affairs of state, or even affairs OF the
/ family. 1t was his supposed impaSslVe
| Indifference 10 the sex that first won
] him the incredulous interest OF the
| Parisians when, as the head OF the
/ Italian army at twenty-five, he sternly
put aside the usual gallantries that fol-
/ low wars alarums" and found time
only for conjugal letters to the absent
/ Josephine.
Frederic Mason, however, tells an
other tale, aud, since this is the epoch
for reconstructing historic characters,
the adorers of Napoleon the General
nav as we'll make up their minds to re-
wise their opinions OF Napoleon thu
Man. And il must be said that al
though the incidents recited and the
suggestions implied are a little too
broad to set before an Anglo-Saxon race
of readers, the revision will in no wise
lessen the fascination, that the Napol-
comic apparition inspires.
THE NAPOLEONIC LEGEND.
Frederic Mason, the author, has
hitherto been known as devotee OF
Bonapartism, aud he really succeeds
in doing for his idol what Jean Jacques
Rousseau attempted for himself. He
has written the heart history OF the
man. 1t may be- said that the picture
bellttles and enlarges the outlines OF
the great man irrespective OF the eX-
ploits OF the hero. Instead OF an i'm
posing Cromwell, guitless of knowl-
edge of feminine graces, unconscious OF
the allurements Of feminine art,
the real Napoleon was as suscept-
bic to love as the most sentimental
Romeo OF his amorous race; even more,
mis- ruin, like that OF his grandiose pre-
! decessors, was brought about by
Delilah's exactions and inidelties. In
stead of woman-hater, he was as
weakly supine to the rather vulgar
Establishments of Josephine as the COM
monplace Joan. Still more amazing,
even his greatest enterprises are found
TO have been to a grave extent in
fuenced or modified by an almost
grOtesQue uXoriousness.
Indeed, there is no comedy in the
! literature of people that illustrates the
| lion in love more whimscally than
these flashlights on the hitherto OBJ
/ soure darkness OF Napoleon's intim-
acies. The present publication Of this
/ book explains, to some extent, the
mystery of the fabrcations and flakes"
of the recent so-called memoirs" Of
| Tallyrand; for had that astute and
scientific liar told half that he knew
in the light of these memoirs many a
proud house In France to-day would be
! compelled TO destroy it's scutcheon or
display q grlevous blot thereon.
Paris, and indeed all Europe, seems
TO be struck with the remarkable re-
crudesceuce OF the Napoeonic legends.
Not only are plays reviving the career
OF Napoleon presented on two or three
of the Partisan stages simultaneously,
| but half the national periodicals are
deem in new studies" of the extinct
volcano. Masson's book, which, it is
no exaggerstion to say, is exciting a
sensation from ST. Petersburg to Rome,
derives its chief force from the fact
| that the revelations are drawn from
friendly sources, and the writer pre-
sents the result rather in the spirit of a
philosophic and admiring friend than
a severe censor OF morals or critic Of
character.
An EPISODE OF YOUTH.
In q preface hardly less amusing than
the book itself the author anticipates
the cutlery OF his Bouapsrtist allies and
declares that it is time that the world
should know the heart OF Napoleon; that
is TO say, the kindly failings that make
him something more human than the
merely warrior qualities. Nothing could
give a better idea Of the nature OF the
hook and the tenor of the disclosures
concerning its hero than the very frst
chapter recOuuIing young Bouaparte's
casual encounter with a divinity OF
darkness under the stately srcades of
the Palais Royal Could anything be
more impressive than this picture of
the hero of Austerltz, hungry, emscta-
ted. Denslve, wandering through the
scenes recently made hideous by the
Jacobins, distracted from future glory
by the apparitjon of winsome damsel,
whose appearance left the hungry
Young artillery lieutenant in no doubt
as to her status. Here are Napoleon
own words recorded in document re-
produced by the author;
MY soul was agitated by sentiments
as vigorous as my movement, and this
alone enabled me to support the cold
with indifference. Twas just out OF the
iron gates when my eyes fell on a per-
son az the nthar seq. The hour. the