The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-05

land or of France?p he asked p.teously;
II do not know" Louis had not ''the
grand manner" How should he, poor
devil? THE future grandeur of your
people is in yoEr hands, he wrote an
other time. IF you govern by jare-
maids, you will furnish me with nothing
more than the misera bic 5000 men that
are in Hanover, and you win be more
useless than the duke of Baden" But
Louis was helpless even after such a
letter. The final appeal, de fenergie,
de renergie, fell upon an ear deafened
by his peoples indifference, and he could
alonly listen despairingly to the monu-
mental postscript: ::It is only by bray-
ing the opinion of the weak and ignor-
ant that you can assure the good of your
people,
But 1T was Jerome who received the
stateliest reproof, and who was honored
by the letters of most eloquent reproaeh
an war;" wrote Napoleon from Schro-
enbrunn, "there is neither the brother of
the emperor, nor the king of Westphalia,
but a general who commands his corps
And on the same day he sends another
letter. "You are king and brother to an
emperor qualities ridiculous in war.
You must be soldat, ct puts soldat ct
encore soldat, You need neither mlI.iS-
ter, nor diplomat.sts, nor pomp; you
must bivcuac with your advance guard,
you must be day and night in the saddle,
you must march with your advance
guard to get news; or else you must
stay with your seraglio. You make
war like satrap." Does not that re-
proof come like a thunderclap? And
the contrast between himself and Je-
rome is still more eloquent. THE trade
of soldier and the trade of courtier are
far apart. / was scarcely your age when
/ had conquered the whole of Italy ard
had beaten Austrian armies three times
as numerous as my own. But | had
neither fiatterers nor diplomatists in my
suite. l made war like a soldier; there
is no ether way of making 1t. L did not
pretend to be brother to an emperor or
king; l did all that I must to beat an
enemy" Thus it was to his brothers
that he sent his most splendid passages
of prose. And Jerome he signaled out
for favors above the rest. MY frlen1,
[ love you," he set in his own handwrit-
ing at the end of a stern reproach; but
YOU are endorsement jeune. Keep Sim
con and Buegnot, without oath at least
another year, Alors CONNIE alorsi"
Alcrs CONNIE alorsi And when failure
and defeat overwhelmed him it was still
of his brothers that he thought. In
tragic letter addressed to Nine. Mere ne
insists that Louis should stand by the
throne, already in peril, as French
prince; and with Europe invaded he
makes the same demand of Joseph. His
tory cannot show more imprisoned,
more closely reasoned appeals, than
these, made to the loyalty OF DroIners on
the eve of his ruin But his grasp OF
details weakened no more than his dig
nifty To the very end he would control
the world, and show himself the supreme
hero that he was. To-day as at Aus
iterlatz," he wrote to Joseph from Rheims,
IT am master" But his will was not
equal to circumstances, and having sent
back the pope, and having recommended
economy to every one, he was forced to
retire to Elba. During the 100 days he
pursued the countless occupations which,
perhaps, had diverted his genius; once
more he picked up the myriad threads of
government. With his brain distracted
by the appointment of projects and the
control of the police, how should he de-
sign his last campaign? Yet even after
Waterloo he was not hopeless. "All is
not lost" he assured Joseph. Within
three days he believed he could put him
self at the head of $4,000 men. Above
all he exclaimed, du courage eft de la
fermete. But it was too late for firm
ness or courage. Napoleon had fallen,
and with his fall there died that re-
nowned style which found its sanction in
limitless power and which may best be
studied in this series of letters, which,
for brutality and responsiveness, can
not be matched in the literature of the
world.