Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-06-13
NAPoLEoN's APPRENTICESHIP.
1t Was Ended at the Close of the Toulon
Campaign.

At this point Bonaparte's apprentice
years may be said to have ended; he
was virtually the man he remained to
the end. A Corsican by origin, he re-
tanned the national .sensibility and an
enormous power Of endurance both
physical and intellectual, together
with the dogged persistence found in
the medieval Corsicans. He was de-
voted with primitive virtue TO HE fam
lily and his people, but was willing to
sacrifice the latter, at least, TO his am
bition. His moral sense, having never
been developed by education, and,
worse than that, having been befogged
by the extreme sensibility of Rousseau
and by the chaos of the times which
that prophet had brought to pass, was
practically lacking. Neither the hos
tility of his father TO religion nor his
own experience with the Jesuits could,
however, entirely eradicate a supersti-
tion which passed in his mind for faith.
Sometimes he was a scoffer, as many
with weak convictions are: but in gem
eral he had a formal and outward re-
spect for the church.
His theoretical education had been
narrow and one-sided; but his reading
and his authorship, in spite of their SUI
perfcial and desultory character, had
given him certain large and fairly def
mite conceptions of history and pol
itics But his practical educationl
What a polishing and sharpening he
had had against the revolving world
moving many times faster then than in
most ages. He was a master in the
art of civil war, for he had been not
merely an interested observer, but an
active participant in it during FIVE
years in two countries The victim of
wiles more secret than his own, he had
grown most willy in diplomacy; an am
bilious politician, his pulpy principles
were republican in their character so
far as they had any tissue or firmness.
His acquisitions in the science of war
were substantial and definite. Neither
n martinez himself nor tolerant in any
way Of routine, ignorant in fact of
many hateful details, among others of
obedience, he yet rose far above tradi-
tion or practice in his conception of
strategy. He was perceptibly superior
10 the world about him in almost every
aptitude, and particularly so in power
OF combination, in originality, and in
far-sightedness. He could neither
write nor spell correctly, but he was
skilled in all practical applications Of
mathematics; town and country, noun
tains and plains, seas and rivers, were
all quantities in his equations. I'M
Trustworthy of himself, he strove TO
arouse trust, faith and devotion in
those about him; and concealing sue
cessfully his own purpose, he read the
hearts Of others like an open book.
OF pure minded affection for either
men or women he had so far shown
only a little, and had experienced in
return even less; but he had studied
the arts Of gallantry, and understood
the leverage Of social forces. To these
capacities, some embryonic, some per-
fectly formed, add the fact that he was
now a cosmopolitan, and there will be
outline, relief and color TO his char
acter. ~ am In that frame Of mind, 4"
he said OF himself about this time, Sin
which men are on the eve Of battle,
with persistent conviction that since
death Is imminent in the end, 20 be un-
easy Is folly. Everything makes me
brave death and destinyi and II this
goes on, shall in the end, my friend,
no longer turn when a carriage passes
My reason Is sometimes astonished VI
all this; but II is the effect produced on
me by the moral spectacle Of this land
ice pays-oi, not patrie), and by the habit
OF running risks" This Is the power
and the temper Of a man OF whom an
intimate and confidential friend pre-
dicted that he would never stop short
until he had mounted either the throne
on the scaifold. W. NJ. Sloane, in
Century