The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-05

wv NJ i.
NAPOLEON AT TWENTY-FIVE.
lished as pensioners. The solicitation
was that the young fellows should be
educated at the expense of the state.
Marbpuf invented a fiction, fiecked with
fact, about the nobility of his wards;
and the petition was granted finally as
to Napoleon. But Joseph had now
passed the limit of his eleventh year,
and was no longer eligible-unless by
violation of law. He must therefore be
diverted to the priesthood, while the
younger brother was assigned, at the
public charge, to the military academy
at Briennela- Chapelle, on the right
bank of the Aube, in the department of
the same name, hundred and eighteen
miles from Paris Thither he was trans
ferred in the latter part of April, 1879,
and was admitted as u cadet.
At Autun, the chief business had been
to teach him French. He applied him
self closely to this task, but not very |
successfully He learned to speak |
French, brokenly, with an Italian ac-
cent. To the end of his life he never ac-
quired nice knowledge of the adopted |
tongue. His grammar was broken, his |
composition thunderstruck, and his /
spelling heretical. His practical knowl- |
edge of the language which he was des- |
tined to use for fortytwo years in his |
intercourse with men was sufficient; out |
| f,,l 20. Of
calities.
This trait of neglecting the exactitudes
was strongly manifested from Napo- |
Icons childhood. He went az far as the
practical in whatever subject he touch
ed; but having seized thus much, he
cared for nothing else. He desired cor
rectness in others, for that was useful to
him; but as for himself, he wanted only |
aggregate results and a knowledge Of |
their practical advantage. All authors
have commented on the inaccuracies and |
lapses in the Napoleonic correspondence !
and manuscripts. 1t became his habit to |
slur over, in his rapid way, the errors
in his writing; and his arrogance SEEM
ed to convince him that, while correct
spelling was an accomplishment in ped
agogues, it was rather fault in great
men.
The young Bonaparte is described by
his master rs being of solemn demoanor;
rarely laughing; never happy or mirth-
full; no disposition for playing; proud |
and solitary; easily wounded; always |
resentful; learning with lightning, like |
rapidity, but stopping short Of correct |
ness; vain Of his faculties; patriotism
almost morbid; disliking the powerful
foreign race with which his lot had been
cast; looking back regretfully to Corsi- |
ca, and (most unboylike) thinking more
of his country than he did of his home
and mother.
Already, before leaving Autun, the |
pale little Bonaparte fell into frequent
quarrels with his French schoolmates |
about the Corsican revolution They in
| suited him with the charge that his |
countrymen had been towards - else |
they would have won their independ- |
ence. To this he answered angrily that |
| if the French had outnumbered his peo-
| pie only four to one the invaders would |
have been defeated. Military calculation
already
The military academy at Brienne was
one of ten of like kind recently estab-
lished in the kingdom. Besides these,
there were two higher schools, one at
Paris and the other at La Fleche. This
system had superseded another which |
had failed on account of its unpopular
ity. The military education and the right |
thereto was a plum for the mobiles. Boys
of the Third Estate had therein no part
or lot. In the schools were gathered the
weakened reproductions of moribund
nobility. The governors of the schools
were even as the cadets. The institu-
tons degnerated until there was pop
ular reaction against them. There was
a reform, headed by the Church. New
schools were established, and monks
were put in charge of theml
At the time when the boy Napoleon
went to Brienne the remarkable condi
ton was presented of q system of mill
tary schools in charge of the monastio
fathers. The Rri4une academy was COLI
Quoted by the Minim Fathers good men
in their way, but as sources of inspira-
ton to lads with the CLEAN of military
glory in their brains they were mere
dullness and Obfuscation The courses
of study We're mathematics, geography,
| history, Latin, modern languages, phi
| losophy, and such poor misnamed science |
as might be squeezed from the sponge |
| of clerical dogmatism in the eighteenth |
| century.
Such was the disciplinary fare which
was offered to the boy Napoleon. He
was now far removed from friends and
kinsmen He made the acquaintance of
his schoolmates admired one of them
-Bourienne-and seemed to love an
other-Des Mazis; but his character and |
manner were rocks of offense to the rest |
of the hundred and fifty. Nothing more |
striking has been presented in personal |
annals than the contrast which the poor |
CorsicAn lad, with his solemn face, |
long, stiff black hair naughty express |
sion, olose-shut Italian mouth, solitary |
pride of bearing, and questionable in |
sular suit, afforded to the throng of |
noble, mocking etfeminates among |
whom he was washed up as from the sea |
! On his entrance into the academy. |
which was q clean, well-ordared place
Napoleon brought from the Able |
Chardon certificates of moderate prof |
cheney and the usual character sketch |
OF himself as pupil. But nothing pro-
tected him from the inane animosity of |
his fellows They jeered at him in a
manner that would have driven less
resolute spirit to despair. Had no been
complaisant, he might easily have won
peace, il not popularity; but his defiant
air seemed to challenge the attacks Of
the oontemptuous crowd.
Deep down in the situation lay the |
proyocation of poverty. The boy per-
ceived the disparagement to which he |
was subjected ON this score; and it mad |
dened him not little, His most trou-
blesome characteristic was this-that he |
would not follow in anything He would |
lead. He would be first or nothing AS
sumption of leadership and the air of it
brought on him still greater contumely.