St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-02-08


An 10y viii be skeetin' an nyn' all round
Three cheers an n tiger from Blville t.
Brown
When Congress adjourns,
Adiourns
-[Atlanta Constitution
THE NEW INTEREST IN NAPOLEON
The revival Of the Napoleonic lie.
gend is SO spontaneous and unexam-
pied, that one is tempted to ask lis it
real or is it a dream. No one doubts
for an instant that the iron heel OF
the conqueror on the face of Europe
was very real thing; but has the
glory, or the severity Of his achieve
mcnts irremediably warped the
judgment OF the race and precluded
an ultimate and reliable statement of
Napocons real merits? The solu-
ton Of a question so complex may
rightly be deferred until the evidence
Is all in and the arguments for and
against given due hearing; but this
much may be conceded at this mo-
mcnt, the final verdict must include
his role as a civil administrator on
plane with his extraorjlnary exploits
with the sword,
No one unacquainted with the facts
can form any adequate idea how
much the civil poIity Of the France of
to day, is a part of oris founded upon
the civil polity OF the France of the
1st Empire; and intelligent French
men assure us that outside of their
own country this matter has never
received the considerations deserves.
VINO dares to draw picture of the
Europe of 1880 if Waterloo had been
a second Austerlitz and thereby
prolonged peace had been assured,
and the reactionaries relegated to
their mediocrity and amusements.
To say that peace was impossible is
only to beg the question; although
it must be admitted, in the nature of
things it was not less than ANNOYING
for the rest OF Europe to accept favor
from man who had five times bro
ken their coalitions, and aspired to
the post OF arbiter.
But the glamor of the times and
the man is curious; there has been
nothing like it since Caesar and Alex
ander. Long after the campaign in
Egypt traveller found there among
the Arabs, evidences of reverence for
Napoleon. They would perpetuate
his memory with the most precious
word in their language "The Just"
The Spanish peasantry though they
had felt his heavy hand in war.
placed his portraits on their walls
side by side with their national hero,
the Cid. The Venetian gondoliers
after Napoleon's fall refused carriage
to Marmont, pointing to him in their
d,sdan as the man who had BETRAYED |
in his hour OF need their hero Napo-
leon. And Of the tales associated
with his veterans, their sacrifices,
their devotion, their name is legion. |
Even Talleyrand, the crafty, so it is
recently given out, fell again in 1880 |
under the influence OF the magic name
and made the journey to Vienna to
fetch the king of Rome to Paris and
So restore the line of Bonaparte; and
this errand proved fruitleSs only be.
cause of the opposition of the author
tiles at Vienna.
II Napoleon failed to get on with
the politicians OF Europe he found
responsive utterances from the poets.
The songs of Beranger translated in
to the Russian tongue became part
OF the folklore of the Russian peasan-
try and their hatred of the French
invader was softened to pity for his
miStortunes and for the fate which
overlook his brave army.
1t is fit time, suitable because a
century removed from his initiation
INTO the whirlpool which finally de.
>troyed him, to recast our opinions.
prematurely formed it may be, of one
"i the most extraordinary men that
ever lived. Whatever else NAV be
sand OF him he was not demon, nei-
'her was he saint and from our
point OF view his moral sense was re.
Strlcted, there is no doubt of that.
But after all allowances for his limit
atoms are made, there must remain
IN all rejecting minds an undsturbed
convection that Napoleon led the
French people with a masters hand.
out OF the chaos and the passions of
ne revolution to point whence
thcy could look to a land of promise
even II they must be forbidden to ex.
Nlore it; where the Bourbon and his
hasuIIe, his icudalism, his privileged
mobiles and clergy that held tide to
40 thirds OF the land and loaded the
'ther third with the taxes, and re.
aimed for themselves all the prefer.
Itnts IN the army and government,
should lind no more foothold forever