The Washington herald., 1914-11-29

sword or pen, with ak or scythe, a man
cuts his own epitaph.
Following Sedan there was a violent
reaction from the Napoleonic idolatry
of the second empire. Skepticism and
condemnation swiftly ran to an extreme
as great as the blind credulity of the idol
wOrshipers. The Napoleonic legend was
furiously torn to tatters and its central
figure was transformed from a myth
illogical deity into the sCapegoat OF mod
ern times; from an impossible demigod
he was distorted into an impossible
demon.
Time has checked that reaction and
softened the rage OF the iconoclasts, who
no sooner OVeTCame the base habit OF
looking up to Napoleon than they fell into
the opposite baseness Of f1atterinG them
selves by looking down on him II Is dlf-
fiCult to take a horizontal view OF one
whose life and character touched heights
so lofty and sounded depths so abysmaL
But as the world increases in understand
ing men will be enabled to look a Ma
poleon in the eye and view him on a level
with themselves. when, perhaps, he Will
lose their awe but gain their charity. As
history grows democratic 1t will become
more and more like nature herself, care
less OF the single life and careful of the
type. We are now too prone TO magnify
a man and to minify mankind, to forget
that no one stands-or falls-alone and
that all men are creatures Of circum-
stances.
Picked Out of the Crowd.
We have seen Napoleon at twenty-four
a drifting. unambitious man. apparently
OF the common mold: mediocre in school;
an Indifferent soldier: unkempt and awk-
ward IN the salon, emitting not a flash OF
that genius which he was so soon and
suddenly to radiate before daZZled
world. We saw him unstirred by the
great revolution, when il had been rag
ing about his head for a half dozen years,
and deaf to the loud knoCkings OF op-
portunity, which had aroused so many
of his comrades. We saw him stunning
military service. running away from
France and trying all the while TO stay
in his native island.
We saw him aimlessly lettering in the
streets OF Paris, where, like juror at
cOroner's inquest, he was called out of
the crowd and placed on horseback.
Surely go, maybe l.O00 army officers had
more experience and reputation. He was
nobody, not even q FrenChman: but au-
thOrity and law, rank, wealth and SEN
iority had all been swept away in the
revolution. The whole structure Of So
ciety was turned upside down, and the
slate was wiped clean. ThereupoH the
mighty social forces. ClamOrinE for an
agent seized on this chance passerby
and flooded him with their overwhelming
energy
The moment the boy put on a gem
erals hat. he seemed to have grown two
feet" said Massena
The shiftless, dawdling Corsican flew
aDONe Ile ALPS. fte le0peu tnc MeulleT-
ranean. He dashed across the desert. Il
saw the world spinning beneath me-" he
said, "as II ! were being carried through
the air" His young head grew dizzy.
The ruler Of Italy at twenty-siN; the des-
pot OF Egypt at twenty-eight: the die
tator OF France at thirty; the master Of
Europe at thirty-two; his youth was a
grievous misfortune. The Constitution
OF the United States bars men even from
the Senate until they are thirty. and
from the Presidency until they are thir-
ty-five. Caesar was forty when he really
began his career. This man had run his
course before most rulers gain supreme
power.
I am called to renovate the social
world" he said; and this confidence in
sures my success" He threw himself
against the gate of the Orient. and its
hinges rusted by 800 years of disuse,
were shattered. He smote slothful Eu-
rope and its medieval systems crum-
bled to dust.
He infused with the electric force of
the revolution armies, lawyers. artists,
builders, and at his command codes were
formulated, arches and bridges rose,
roads were made and canals were dug.
The Fatal DeIusIon.
The politicians of Europe. naturally
enough, thought his power came from
himself. The world invited me to gov
ern it," he said. "Sovereigns and sub
jects WED with one another in Fastening
beneath my scepter.
His ambition grew on what il fed. In
evitably he came to share the general
belief that he was the source and not
merely the medium Of the might with
which he was invested. He attributed 1t