The Washington herald., 1914-06-28

Hips while the quiIls Of his secretaries,
with no system of stenography to aid
them. raced to put on paper few main
points and characteristic expressions
from which to frame letters. orders,
proclamations and speed them by cour-
iers to all corners of the empire. II they
were engulfed by the torrent and tioun-
dered he cried out as IL in paint can
not repeat: you make me lose the thread
of my thought
He did not have time even to subscribe
Napoleon" to the documents which his
secretaries laboriously wrote out and laid
before him: he merely labbed them with
his Quill and made an undecipheraole
sign which yet sufhced to give them fun
force and effect throughout Europe
Sometimes the illegible scratch was in
tended for Nap" but as the terrible
pressure weighted heavier and heavier
upon him he made only FISH hook for
an N" Thus while the power and care
of the Emperor increased his autograph
diminished: as the man grew in authority
his signature grew smaller and meaner
Just as the one letter ~ hastily
sCrawled sufficed to proclaim his will to
a docile world so his presence needed not
to be heraIded by any long title. As
kings and princes entered the court they
were announced by all their proud des-
ignations but when the doors were
thrown open for the sovereign Of SOW
ereigns the attendant pronounced only
the simple, yet thrilling title, L En-
preur,'
He became the literature. politics and
trade Of France. He held no councils in
war and no cabinet meetings in peace.
He let Tallyrand go-''he was always in
a state of treason'-and acted as his own
minister Of foreign affairs. He abol-
ished the Tribuuate and his own was the
one voice left in the nation. Strong. stub
born natures fed him, and those who re-
manned, sank into clerks to do the bid
ding OF one whom Gladstone rated the
greatest administrator in history"
Ganara1ly he a work 9 carly
in the morning. tearing through the null
titudinous duties OF an empire which en-
braced half dozen kingdoms and thirty
principalities Often he continued at his
desk as late as midnight. Sometimes he
awoke at a most unreasonable hour and
called for his assistants, shouting, Let
everyone rise
Napoleon the FInancier.
The financier who financed that enor-
nous empire, clothed. fed. armed its tre-
mendous armies, vas Napoleon himself.
Galloping back from Austerlitz, he stole
into Paris in the night. and after an alb
sence of rs stirring DAYS, sat down at
his table as IL he had only returned
from a stroll. Summoning his ministers
in council at in the morning. he began
to straighten out the tangled finances of
his government. reorganize its income
Of double entry accounting.
He hated a public debt. The debt of
France was $lOhOCO,COO when he began to
find il. and he swore that "as long as !
rule l shall not issue any paper" At the
hight of his power the yearly eXpendi-
lures ranged from $40 0O0. 900 to $3.50 COX, 600.
He made his army pay its own way with
indemnities from conquered lands and
subsidies from allied states. Warfare
was cheap in time when soldiers re-
ccived only a few cents a day, lived of
the country. and ordnance was simple
and inexpensive. The army pay roll was
than Nl 000 M
No stock speculator ever watched the
ticker more closely than he watched the
fluctuations in the price of rentes or the
public securities. Their par value was
iO0 francs, but where they sold for
only 12 francs the day before he seized
the reins, they rose steadily until the vic
tory Of Austerlitz boosted them to 20 and
the peace OF Tilsit to 90. Shortly after
ward they touched 90. which represented
interest at the rate of about 5 per cent.
His interest in money matters was not
limited TO high finance, but he watched
. I--..s.- - Ca.t,