Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-01-16
NAPOLEON'S YOUTH.
Story of His Reception and Ad-
ventures in Corsica.
"SHIFTINESS" OF CHARACTER.
His Point of View Changed In an Instant
an Unforeseen Chance was to
be Improved.
"SHIFTINESS OF CHARACTER.

Prof. William M. Sloane gives an IN
teresting analysis of the youthful nature
of Napoleon in the third installment
of his new life printed in the January
number of the Century" The
period under consideration is that i'm
mediately following Napoleon's flight
from Corsica, when he had renounced
his firm allegiance to Paoli in the be-
lief that it would improve his own
chances for preferment. Prof Sloane
says:
Not that the outcast Bonaparte was
any longer exclusively Corsicap. 1t
is impossible to conceive of a lot more
pitiful or fate more obdurate than
his had so far been. There was little
hereditary morality in his nature, and
none had been inculcated by training;
he had no vital piety, nor even sincere
superstition. A butt and an outcast at
French school under the old regime.
he had imbibed bitter hatred for the
land indelibly associated with such
naughty privileges for the rich and
such contemptuous disdain for the poor.
He had not even the consolation OF
having received an education. His
nature revolted at the religious formal
ism of priestcraft: his mind turned in
disgust from the scholastic husks of its
superficial knowledge. What he had
learned came from inborn capacity,
from desultory reading, and from the
untutored imaginings of his garden at
Brienne, his cave at Ajaccio, or his
barrack chambers. What more plausi-
BILE than that he should first turn to the
land of his birth with some hope of
happiness, usefulness, or even glory!
What more mortifying than the stu
pefying revelation that in manhood he
was too French for Corsica, as he has
been in boyhood too Corsican for
France!
The story Of his reception and ad-
ventures in Corsica has no fascination;
it is neither heroic nor satanic, but
belongs to the dull and mediocre real
ism which makes up so much of COM
monplace life. 1t is difficult to find
even thread of continuity in it; there
may be one as to purpose; there is
none as to either conduct or theory.
There is the passionate admiration OF a
Southern nature for hero as repre-
sented by the ideal Paoli. There is
the equally Southern quality of quick
but transient hatred. The love of
dramatic effect is shown at every turn.
in the perfervid style Of his writings,
in the mock dignity of an edict issued
from the grotto at Milelli, in the empty
honors of lieutenant-colonel without
real command. in the paltry style of
an artillery inspector with no s-tillery
but few dismantled guns.
But the most prominent characteris-
tic of the young man was his shiftiness,
in both the good and bad senses of the
word. He would perish with mortifi-
cation rather then fall in devising some
expedient to meet every emergency; he
felt no hesitation in changing his point
of view as experience destroyed an idea
or an unforeseen chance was to be seized
and improved. Moreover, repeated
failure did not dishearten him. De-
testing garrison life, he neglected his
duties, and endured punishment, but
he secured regular promotion; defeated
again and again before the citadel of
Ajaccio, each time he returned undis-
mayed to make fresh trial under new
auspices or i'll new way.
He was no spendthrift, but he had
no scruples about money. He was
proud in the headship of his family and
reckless as to how he should support
them or should secure their promotion.
Solitary in his boyhood, he had be-
come in youth a companion and leader;
but his true friendships were not with
his social equals whom he despised but
with the lowly whom he understood.
Finally he was citizen of the world,
a man without country, his birthright
was gone for Corsica repelled him;
France he hated for she had never
adopted him. He was likewise with
out profession for he had neglected
that of soldier and had failed both
as an author and as politician. He
was apparently too without a single
guiding principle; the world had been
harsh stepmother az whose knee ne
had neither learned the truth nor ex-
perienced kindness. He appears consist
ent in nothing but in making the best
of events as they occurred. So far he
was man neither much better nor
much worse than the world in which
he was born.
He was quite as unscrupulous as
those about him but he was far greater
than they in perspicacity, adoritness,
adaptability, and persistence. During
the period before his expulsion from
Corsica these qualities of leadership
were scarcely recognizable. but they ex-
listed. AS yet, to all outward appear
ance, the little captain of artillery was
the same slim ill-proportioned and
rather insignificant youth; but at