Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-04-22
[eopyright 1895, by John Clark Ridpath.

NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF ARCOLE.
 seem ineonsistentwith the predominant passion. Only a short time before de- parting on the first Italian campaign he wrote letter to Bourrienne, then an emigrant at Sens, saying, Seek out for me small piece of land in your beauti- ful valley of the Yonne I will purchase it as soon as 1 can get together the money. wish to retire there; but rec olleot that l will have nothing to do with national property" " Quite insin- cere and fitfull Indeed, General, "a small piece of lando is the last thing in this world that you wish for; and as to your retiring there, your retirement is fixed for another plaee-that far-of island to which you referred in the last clause of your school exercise at Autun. Your essay was headed Possessions des Anglais;" you finished thus: "Sainte He- lene, petite isle You will find it sol
 The military glory of Napoleon prop erly begins with his first campaign into Italy. The States of that peninsula were about to be made the play ythings of great ambitions. Whether the influence of Austria and the coalition should con- tinue predominant from Piedmont to Venice was the question. The existing order in the Italian States and cities fa- yored the Austrian power; but tho popu- lar party was ill sympathy with Repub- lioan France. Bonaparte's mission into Italy was ostensibly for preoccupation and defense; but it meant, out of the nature of things, sharp war and speedy conquest.
 Hardly had tho campaign in Pied mont begun before the Directory i'll Paris would send out tho veteran Kellerman to be second in command. This might be a compliment to q general-inc chief not yet twenty seven, but not so to Bonaparte He at ouce replied saying that 1t was indifferent to him Ca thing most untruc1 whether he should serve ill Italy or somewhere else. All he wished--so ran his plaint-was a brief &ge i'll history aN .lrded for service to lis country General Kellerman had more experience than he, and knew bet ter how to make war; but both to- gether we shall make it badly I will not willingly serve with man who 
 Europe. " How strongly is hore revealed tho unconqnerable will and self-sufli- cieucy and purpose of Bonaparte to be al or nothing
 Let us scan the field The coalition against Franco now embraced Austria, Bavaria, Piedmont, Naples, and Eng land Tho smaller States of Germany and Italy were also in the league For tke protection" Of Piedmont and in- dead of all Italy, an army of about sixty thousand man, thoroughly equipped and Supplied, and commanded by General Beaulieu, one of the ablest and most ex- perienced in Europe, had been sent into Lombardy. Against this power Napo- Icons Army of Italy was set, consisting of only thirty five thousand new men, miserably destitute, and having enthu- siasm for it's principal resource. With this lie must compete for the mastery of states and kingdoms. But the Army of Italy had for commander a military genius of so andacious character as to rank it's possessor with the two other prime warriors of human history. He had daring, military invention, the power of combination, the discovery of new expedients, sudden adaptation to unforeseen contingencies. courage ann bition, foresight, subtlety, and indeed every quality fit to make him what he was now about to become-the greatest commander of modern times
 4 At Montenotte, twenty-six miles west l~of Genoa, Napoleon fought his first feld-battle. He attacked tho Austrian division of D'Argontean, and won a victory. Mark you, he fought with a dtUision of the enemyl This was on the 18th of April. only twenty two days after his departure from Paris. On the l4th he struck the Austrians and Sardin-