Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-03-17

force. Once at home, he played tho despot.
He hectorcd all his kinsfolk, with the OK.
ocption OF the mother, and she could hard,
/ ly Withstand his impotuosity, willfulness
and gloom. His old and equity grcat-unolo
Lucion, from being the main stay of tho
family, was now about to die. Napoleon
sought TO alleviate the distressos OF tho
household; but h!s1rosourocs were limited,
md his ambitions were constantly con.
tending with the purposes born of natural
| affection.
Home again aftor an absence of nearly
nine years. the young officer busted him.
self more with things great than things
little. He was more concerned with tho
| political condition OF the world than with
tho daily needs of his mothers house. Ho
dwelt more ON the state OF Corsica than
ON the emptiness OF Madame Bonnparte's
| cuisine-inoro on tho woes Of Ajnocio
| than on those OF his brothers and sistors'
stomAchs He conceived himself to DO the
patriot par excellence Of his age, and spent
more time in delivering socalistic mono.
logues than In contriving the means TO
rescue tho family from impending ruin.
1t was at this junoturo that Napoleon
began TO concern himself especially about
tho institutions and history Of England.
Along with his Nocker he studied Smiths
wealth OF Nations" then only twelve
years from tho press. Tho Elizabethan age
not indeed for the intellectual glory that
was in 1t, but for its political intrigues--
impressed him greatly; and no undertook
to do into fiction the features of thnt era
in novel entitled tho Count of Essex. "
Then he flow back 10 his History of Cor.
sica, revised the parts which he had sont
TO the Abbe Raynnl, and pressed ON with
the rest Alongside of Noltaire, he would
set up rival production Of his own. called
the Masked Prophet"-a marvellous and
impossible invention out of Perslnl Litern.
ture was thus mixed with affairs; fiction
flourished at che meager meals which Ma
dame Bonnparte was able to set for her
family; anathemas of Joseph's unprofltn.
bio wine-shop were illuminated with para
graphs about the glories of rebellion; and
the mulberry orchard bnck of Ajaccio was
cursed in the middle Of an apostrophic per-
Grafton about tho regeneration of man
kind
Bonaparte' leave of absence-so eagerly
sought-soon became MS intolorablo to him
as to the rest. His paper gave him privilege
to bo away from his command for six
months; but before the end of the fourth
mountaineering casuistical reasons
he impntently left Corsica to rejoin his
he had accomplished something-somo-
thing that would have been much In any
other. He had induced the French intend.
ant to agree to allow his mothers claim.
He had pushed forward the inert Joseph !
to try tho law us u profession, and had |
seen him installed at Bastia. He had /
urged upon his equity unclu the necessity |
of patriotlsml He had drawn up and sub !
mittcd "A system Of coast defcnses for tho /
principal ports OF tho island. He had pre- |
pared scheme for tho creation of an in !
sular army. He had studied and written |
necessarily OF a furious speed completing /
his Oriental novel and his History Of Cor .
sica. Tho latter was cast in tho epistolary
form, and was dedicated to Monscigneur
Marhnuf now promoted to the see OF Sens
Meanwhile tho Regiment La Fere had
been ordered from Douai to Auxonnc, in
Cote d'Or, lS2 miles from Paris. Thither
Napoleon repaired, to rcjon his command.
In the last week Of May, 1888. He took
with him the manuscript Of his - History of
Corsica, seeking q publisher, but finding
none, either ut Nalenco or Lyons or Aux
onne or Paris or anywhere else in this
mundane sphere forever In that same
week, Alexander Hamilton wrote his last
paper for Tho Fodernlst. One month pre-.
viously, from the presses Of Strahan and
Cndell, in the Strand, was issued by tho
author, on his fifty first birthday, tho
greatest history ever composed by man.
1t wonld DO impossible to define the
mental condition of Napoleon at this stage
OF his development. Politically - for
though asoldier he was always politician
-ho went hating between two forces.
lho one tendency drew him powerfully to-
wards the local independence of his native
1.-Two I.s,s. - a
quest and annexation Of Corsica to Franco.
1t also involved hatred OF France itself;
OF the French raco; and of tho French
monarchy in particular But the other
tendency drew Franceward with canal
stress 1t was from the powerful fact Of
france that all benefits had thus far
Moved TO the family Of Bonaparte. BY
France ho had himself been educated. Be-
sides, Corsica, even as IN independent
state, was limited field Of action. France
is great. France offers worldwide dis.
unotion. Our commission as Lieutenant
oil artillery Is French commission, and
our very sword is French blade
But our History of Corsica" is patri-
QUO ana lnsurrectionary document. lis
inconsistent with our allegiance, and hurt
a M, 10 What france may promise hereafter.
therefore VIC would better shuttle. md re-.
write our book We will nut II into tina
mouth OF Corsican patriot of the old
uehoeso faction, to which the family OF
our mother Ramolino once belonged In
It's present form VIC make a copy Of it, and
send 1t TO the great Paoli in London; but
ne returns IL to us, putting us OIL with
t INC counsel that we are as yet immature,
700 young Tor writing history, " and add
ing words to the effect that our book Ia
hUe suInclently original. In truth, our
mind is vortex, vnelstrom Of oonIiiot.
ing tides. Hero at Au1onne during onr {
stay oil eighteen months, we will sit down
again, Unsuitable, In solitary gloom, and
uoVonr the greatest things thought and
written by men whom we shall one day Z
snrpass and eclipsel way I
JOHN CLARK RIDPATH.