Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-01-03
WORKS HE STUDIED.
THE KIND OF LITERATURE THAT IN
TERssTED NAPOLEON.

Ho Fell Under the InilueneO Of Able Ray
nal, Who Advised. Him to Road More
Before Writing-Hs Was Partial to His
tory. Politics and Geography.
Rousseau had been the prophet and
forerunner Of the new social dispensa-
tion. Tho scheme for applying its prin-
ciples is found in a work which bears
the name of a very mediocre man, the
Able Raynal, a man who enjoyed in
bis day an extended and splendid repu
tation which now appears to have had
only the slender foundations of unmer-
tied persecution and the friendship of
superior men. In 1770 appeared over
his name a volume of which he was the
compiler, but not the author. "Philo-
sophical and Political History of the
Establishments and Commerce Of the
Europeans In the Two Indies is mis-
cellany compounded of extracts from
many sources and of short essays by
Raynal's brilliant acquaintance on su-
perstition, tyranny and similar themes.
The reputed author had written for the
public prints and had published several
works, none of waich attracted atten-
tion. The amazing success of this one
was not remarkable if, as the critics
now believe, at least third OF the book
was by Diderot. The position of the self
styled author as man of letters imme-
diately became foremost one, and such
was the vogue of the work that the au-
thorities finally became alarmed. A
dramatic climax to Raynal's renown
was secured when in 1881 the vol
ume was condemned to be burned and
the writer fled for safety into exile. The
storm had finally subsidized, he had re-
turned to France, and communication
was opened between the great man and
his aspiring reader.
"Not yet 49," are the startling words
in the letter written by Bonaparte, 81
am writer. 1t is the age when we
must learn. Will my boldness subject
me to your raillery? No; am sure If
indulgence be mark of true genius,
you should have much indulgence. l
inclose chapters l and 2 of his
tory Of Corsica, with an outline of the
rest. IT You approve, / will go on; if
you advise me to stop, I will go no fur
ther. " These chapters as they came to
Raynal's hands are not in existence, SO
far as is known, and posterity can never
judge how monumental their authors
assurance was The abbe's reply was
kindly, but he advised the novice to
complete his researches and then to re-
write his pieces. Bonaparte was not
unwilling to profit by the counsels he
received. Soon after, in July, he gave
two orders to Genevese bookseller, one
for books concerning Corsica, another
for the memoirs of Nine. de Warens and
her servant, Claude Anet, which are a
sort Of supplement to Rousseau's "Con-
fessions. The young historians letter
teens with bad spelling and bad gram
mar, but it is saturated with the spirit
of his time.
Some of the tagging days were not
only spent in novel reading, as the en-
peror in after years confessed to Nine.
de Remusat, but in attempts at novel
writing to relieve the tedium of idle
hours. 1t is said that first and last b.
naparte read "Werther" five times
through. Enough remains among his
boyish scribblings to show the kind of
fantastic dreams both of love and of
glory in which he indulged. Many en-
tertain a shrewd suspicion that amid
the gayeties Of the winter he lost his
heart, or thought he did, and was re-
pulsed. At least, in his Dialogue on
Love-" written five years later, he says,
II, too, was once in love-" and pro-
ceeds, after few lines, to decry the
sentiment as harmful to mankind, a
something from which God would do
we'll to emanoipate it, There seems to
have been in the interval no opportuni-
ty for philandering so good as the one
he had enjoyed in the drawing rooms of
Nine. de Colombier. 1t has at all events
been the good fortune of that excellent
and charming woman to secure, by this
superstition, place in history not mere
ly as the influential patroness of Napo-
leon, but as the mother of his first love-
But these were his avocations. The
real occupation of his time was study.
Besides reading again the chief works
of Rousseau and devouring the Able
Raynal, his most beloved author, he
also read much in the works of Voltaire,
Of Filangieri, Of Necker and of Adam
Smith. With notebook and pencil he
extracted, annotated and criticised, his
mind alert and every faculty bent to the
clear apprehension Of the subject in
hand. To the conception of the state as
private corporation, which he had
imbibed from Rousseau, was now added
the conviction that the institutions of
France were no longer adapted to the
occupations, beliefs or morals of her
people, and that revolution was neces-
sity. To judge from memoir presented
some years later to the Lyons Academy,
he must have absorbed the teachings of
the 1.-TWO Indies" almost entire.
The consuming zeal for studies on the
part of this incomprehensible youth is
probably unparalleled. Having read
Plutarch in his childhood, he now de-
voured Herodotus, Strabo and Diodorus.
China, Arabia and the Indies dazzled
his imagination, and what he could lay
hands upon concerning the east was
soon assimilated. England and Germany
next engaged his attention. and toward
the close of his studies he became ardent
in examining the minutest details Of
French history. 1t was, moreover, the
science of history and not of literature
which occupied him -. dry details Of
revenue, resources and institutions. The
Sorbonne, the bull Unigenitus and
church history in general, the character
of peoples, the origin of institutions, the
philosophy of legislation-all these he