The Dickinson press., 1912-07-13
NAPOLEON'S FALL.
The Modern Attila Crushed BY His
Streak OF Insanity.
A VICTIM OF MEeALoMANIA.

A VICTIM Of M"EGALOmANIA.
Envious Of Alexander the Great, He
Aimed to Rule the Whole World, and
France Sacrificed q Million Men on
the Altar Of His Monomania.
Were readers Of history asked today
what three human characters have
been most prominent in making the
history Of the world there could prob
ably be great diversity Of opinion as
to two Of such personages, but as to
the third the general agreement could
probably point to Napoleon Bonaparte.
T. P. O'Connor, who for many years
has made a study Of the modern At
tia, as he was called by his contem
poraries, presents In his London maga.
zine an article entitled 1.-THE Insanity
Of Napoleon's Genius" in which he
shows him to be a victim Of amegalo'
mania, that form Of mental alienation
in which the patient is possessed Of
gradiose Authorizations. " >
MI. O'Connor discards the idea that
Napoleon because Of his gigantic pow
er for work had a perfect physique
and invulnerable health. He suffered
as child from extreme nervousness,
later from facial neuralgia. He had a
nervous twitching at the mouth and
the right shoulder. After Toulon he
long suffered from a painful and vast
ing cutaneous disease, and at times he
had fits of an epileptic character. As
he was about to leave Strassburg In
1905 on the way to the mighty victory
over General Mack at Ulm he had one
of these spasms. After dinner on the
day he was leaving, says Talleyrand
in his memoirs, the emperor had called
him into his room. There Talleyrand
found him gasping for breath. Il
tore off his cravat, for he seemed like
to choke. He did not vomit, but sigh.
ed and foamed. M. de Remusat, first
gentleman in waiting, who had also
come into the room, handed him wa
ter, and l sprinkled him with eau de
cologne. He was suffering from some
sort of cramp, which passed of In a
quarter of IN hour. We laid him In
an armchair. He began to speak: put
his dress right, commanded us to OBJ
serve the strictest secrecy, and half
an hour later he was on his way to
Carlsruhe."
Another sign of the abnormal In Ma:
poleon was his intense %irritability, and
often there came a nervous breakdown
that reduced him to the condition OF a
hysterical woman. This 1rr1tab1l1ty
sometimes took the form of fits OF
weeping. He would fly into a passion
on the slightest provocation. In his
impotence he tore many a garment to
pieces because it Inconvenience him
in some trifing way. He had an inner
melancholy that never left him. While
he talked Of death, Napoleon never
had any serious intention of taking his
own life. He never lost his grasp Of
life. While a man of dreams, he was
4 man Of action. Success did not make
this dreamer more cheerful. he had
strange moments of bitterness and
hatred and a desire to infict pain. For
instance, he would say to a lady after
asking her name, "Dear me, I was told
you were pretty" or to an elderly gen
tleman, "You have not much longer to
i've"
1t was comparatively early in his
career that his insane desire to rule
not France, not even Europe. but all
the world, took possession Of him. The
real reason for his crushing downfall
is to be found in this megalOmania.
He himself caused his downfall. Ma
poleon alone could have conquered Ma
poleon, and 1t was this megalomania
that undid him.
There was his dream Of the control
Of Europe. ''There WILL" he said to his
intimates while he was still first con.
sui, "be no peace in Europe till It Is
under the command Of a single leader,
under one emperor, with kings for his
officers, who will distribute Kingdoms
to his generals, making mi king Of
Bavaria, n landman Of Switzerland,
another, stakeholder Of Holland and
giving them all official posts in the i'm
perial household, such as grand cup
bearer, grand chamberlain, grand mas
ter of the hounds, ETC."
Napoleon did place kings In several
countries and controlled the policy of
nearly every country Of Europa
wonderful achievement for the pow
erty stricken charity boy who got his
education at Brienne at the expense
Of his sovereign. he might have re-
NAMED the king of kings in Europe
had he been satisfied with that awful
height. But he was not satisfied; he
never was satisfied. After Europe
there was Asia.
On the day he was crowned emperor
In. December, 1904, he said to his min
lister of marine: II grant you my
career has been brilliant and ! have