Arizona republican., 1895-05-04
NAPOLEON'S CHARACTER
Described by This Writer as Be-
 ing Somewhat Shifty.
The Emperor Would Change His Point of View tn an Instant If an Unfore-
 seen Chance Was to Be Inn r. proved.

ture of Napoleon in 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 chance for preferment. Prof. Sloane says:
 Not that the outcast Buonaparte was any longer exclusively Corsican. It is impossible to conceive of lot more pitiful or fate more obdurate than his had so far been. IT ere was little hereditary morality in his nature, and none had been inculcated by training; he had no vital piety, nor even sin cere superstition. A butt and an out cast 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 bar rack chambers. What more plausible 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 stupe flying 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 adven- lures in Corsica has no fascination; it is neither heroic nor satanic, but belongs to the dull and mediocre realism which makes up so much of commonplace life. It is difficult to find even a thread of continuity in it; there may be one as to purpose; there is none as to either con- duct or theory. There is the passionate admiration of southern nature for a hero as represented 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 writ ings, in the mock dignity of an edict issued from the grotto at Milelli, in the empty honors of a lieutenant colonel without a real command, in the paltry style of an artillery inspector with no artillery but a few dismantled guns.
 But the most prominent characteristic of the young man was his shiftiness, in both the good and bad senses of the word. He would perish with mortifca- tion rather than fail 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.
 He was no spendthrift, but he had scruples about money. He was proud in the headship of his family, and reck- less as to how he should support them, or should secure their promotion. Sol itary in his boyhood, he had become in youth companion and leader; but his true friendships were not with his so- cial equals, whom he despised, but with the lowly, whom he understood. Fi- nally, he was citizen of the world, a man without a country, his birthright was gone, for Corsica repelled him; France he hated, for she had never adopted him. He was likewise with 1 out profession for he had neglected that Of soldier, and had failed both as an author and as a politician. He was apparently ntoo, without a single guiding principle; the world had been harsh stepmother, at whose knee he had neither learned the truth nor experienced kindness. He appears consistent in nothing but making the best of events as they oc cured. So far he was a man neither much better nor much worse than the world in which he waa born.
 He was quite as unscrupulous as those about him, but he was far greater than they in perspicacity, adroitness, adapt ability and persistence. During the period before his expulsion from Cor sica these qualities of leadership were scarcely recognizable, but they exist ed. As yet, to all outward appear ance, the little captain of artillery was the same slim, ill-proportioned and rather insignificant youth; but at twenty-four he had had the experience of a much greater age. Unconscious of his powers, he had dreamed many day-dreams, and had acquired habit of boastful conversation in the family circle, but fully cognizant of the dan gers incident to his place: and the un- settled conditions about him, he was cautious and reserved in the outside world.
 A CORNER FOR SCIENTIST