New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-06

you will think kindly of me- He then mounted
his carriage and drove away TO Paris to resume
his conquest of Spain The episode is Illus
trative of his entire career Precisely what
1igiOn meant to the secret man within that his
torieaI portent which call Napoleon it is
impossible to state, even after all the Iabors Of
a thousand writer's; but spread across the face
of his biography are the indubitable facts which.
even more than the srinIy suggestive sentence
at the end Of the passage just quoted, expose
the vicious kernel of his plausible farewell to
the German poets Though Mr.. Rose judieiously
disrnisses the tales OF NapoIeon's eoGuetry with
the MosIem faith when in Egypt as mere pose
to which too much importance has been at
tached. it is impossible to escape the conviction
that religion in any form was to him chiefly one
more pawn in the great game he played He
sounded no doubt deep note when ne inter-
rupted the philosophical diyagations Of the
atheisticai savants who took ship with him for
the East and looking up into the midnight
sky. remarked: Very ingenious strs. but VINO
made all that?' Yet IL he besought Goethe and
his colleagues to abjure systems and De con-
tent with Christianity. he revealed In his refer
ence to its power to assure public order and
repose" his ineradicable disposition TO look upon
every human interest from the point Of view
of n1ouIder of society into a fabric OF his own
designing The Illusions 10 which he referred
with such seeming appreciation were only sig
nifcant to him when they promised to serve his
purpose: and inevitably he came to misunGer-
stand the forces which at heart. for all his fine
words. he undoubtedly disdained-
Mr. Rose brings this out again and again IN
his calculation of the events on which Napoleon
rose to power. events in which military genius
was reinforced by consummate diplomacy, but
through which there flowed. like some Invisible
stream slpping the foundations of aDpar-
emily indestructible edifice, vein Of contempt
for the best qualities in the race. contempt
through which the triumphs of sheer might and
intellect were to be. to a great extent invai-
dated Napoleon sprang into the saddle be-
cause he was needed there Years after France
ha5 hailed him as the one individual capable
of bringing order out of tine chaos into when
il had been plunged he drove home a rebuke
to Joseph and Savary for their conduct in Spain
with the words in war nothing; it is q
who is everything" His experience IN the
first years of his tremendous empriSe may
well have fixed the notion in his mind, giving II
ample Justification In the stormy days OF Ven
demiaire. Mr.. Rose remarks. Napoleon had
one infallible safeguard; when heads were fan
ing on every side he was secure because he
could not well be spared'-and he knew IL but
the constructive genius which made him a Doom
TO distracted France. which was as active as MS
military genius when he struck blow after DO"
at the ancient regime all over the contihent-
so that Italy came to regard him as Il SAVIOR
and even in Germany the humiliations ne n
fiicted softened by the impetus when he
gave to a new social and economic develop
ment-conferred fewer benefits than might nave
flowed from its activity. for no other reason
than that he was again and again InSe.sinie 10
the very influences through which he hiE"'
have permanently consolidated his power "I'I'
he gained by the ConcOrdat he lost by ms per
sistentIy ungracous treatment of the Fapaty'
slowly but surely raising stream of resentIheht
against him where he could easily have IN
creased his friends by showing generosity anu
respect The tale of his dealings with the h--
ropean States loses nothing of its magnlttente
through Mr. Roses telling of it; he is as SYN
pathetic as he is vivid in his accounts OF the
battles and in none of his pages on the p'lu-
cal negotiations does he abate in the siS i'eS0
measure the criticism frequently invited by the
powers including Great Britain. He IS laF
from regarding Napoleon as the great du-
venturer" ruthlessly despOing the Nlr'dou'
upboIders of a legitimate state of affairs. lie
testifies freely to the sins of the potentaJes 10
their selfishness and greed TO the frequent O'ise
ness of their ambitions. to the Incompetence OF
themselves and their generals. and in short 10
the fair opening which the state of Europe gave
at that time to the reorganizns passion OF d
man horn 70 meddle with his fellow men. But