New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-11-21
ROOKS AND AUTHORS - REV1EV
I literary CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
New Studies of Napoleon-Bernadotte-lh he
Mission of the Modern Drama and the
Arts in the Modern Theatre.

from Tolstoy and Thomas T.. watson,
who wrote 80 breezily Of Napoleon as
a man who got there with both feet;
from Miss Tarbcll, the Rev. S. Barring
Gould, and many others too numerous
TO mention-even from Cyrus Towns
end Brady and the Historic Doubts
Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte."
Withal the book has historical merit
II is not a mere collection of anecdotes,
but an unfolding presentation of tho
man and his career
II. with Mason, we count the great
mans handkcrchiefs over again, and
look into his snuff boxes once more
we see him planning the Code Napoleon
az well. and follow him on his cam
paigns. We 20 with the Little Cor
poral among his veterans and learn
the trick bv which he seemed 10 re
member them, their services and even
their names; we sit with him M his
council table, and understand why Tall
levrand regretted that so great genius
had such bad manners. His mother,
his wives. his brothers and sisters. has
court. his home life, his marshals and
officials. his foreign contemporaries,
his enemies at home and abroad. az
come within the scope Of this capital
niece of work The author attempts IN
his introduction a psychological anal
ysis of the man and the genius. The
illustrations are by many distinguished
American and French artists, and from
contemporary sources, among them the
bass-relief reproduced on this page.
frst-rate holiday gift-book Of lasting
merit
Mr. Hudson tells the story Of
Napoleons career briefly and swiftly.
His chief preoccupation Is with the
man behind the conqueror and states
man. His view is the older English
one, though he bases II upon Taine,
who held that the Corsican was q typl-
cal mediaval cOndOtfierC. There had
been such soldiers of fortune in the
Bonaparte ancestry-henCe a clear case
Of ntavism. says Mr.. Hudson, 10 whom
hereditv seems 20 have no mysteries
And vet there was Nine. Mere, who,
according to most historians, came far
nearer 70 explaining the sources OF her
sons greatness than did his inslgnlh-
cant father Our author Il quite sure
that Napoleon was not a good man, Tar
less a great One-as a man-that cir
cumstance had as much to do with his
rise TO power as his transcendent abil-
ity; that, IN short, he was "a colossal
figure with feet Of clay" On the sub
ject Of his treatment by England on
ST. Helena the author IS refreshingly
frank. The book is well illustrated
with colored reproductions OF Myr-
bach's well-known pictures.
OF all the men who, with Napoleon,
owed the beginnings Of their careers 20
the Revolution, and whose later fort
unes he made, the most interesting,
though. strangely enough, the least
known. is Bernadotte. the lawyers son
who served Louis XVI as private sol
der, became a general of the republic,
q marshal and diplomat and duke OF
the Empire, then Crown Prince OF
Sweden, and finally King Of that coun-
try and Norway both. His is the only
dynasty of the many founded by Napo-
leon which still survives, though shorn
Of half it's dominion. The opinion still
fingers that he became base and un-
pardonable traitor when, in 1913, he
Joined the Allies in the great campaign
which led TO Bautzen and Lutzen and
Leipsic, and ultimately TO Waterloo.
Biographies Of this soldier Of fortune
who mounted q throne are few IN Eng
Iish. and even in French. lie is better
represented, Of course. in the historical
literature Of Sweden, but even there
one must read with caution, for If, on
the one hand, indignation at his course
Of action has led 20 much misrepre-
sentation, il is, on the other hand, far
from unlikely that Bernadotte in his
later wears established what is now
known as q publicity bureau 70 in
fuence the verdict OF posterlty. How
ever that may be, he is an exceptionally
picturesque figure even amid all the
picturesqueness Of the NapoleOnlc era.
And he certainly was a wise and useful
ruler.
His later career has come TO over
shadow in the eyes of historians ITS
interesting beginnings, of which we
have but scattered records. Mr.. Barton
therefore breaks practically new ground
i'm his book, which deals at length with
Just this part Of Bernadotte's life, and
which seeks 10 divine the man behind
his successes. a second volume will
take up the story from the beginning of
the nineteenth century till his death
in 1874.
"a real Gascon," Napoleon said Of
him at St Helena. and that is the view
taken also by several French writer's:
1.-THE most daring, the most eXtraordl-
nary, the most fortunate Of the cadets
of Gascony." II is Mr. Barton's view
in this interesting study, which, of
course, gives US many a glimpse of the
Emperor himself. The verdict reached
is a favorable one. Bernadotte had the
shortcomings of his virtues, which were
many. lie was brave, resourceful, i'm
petuous in action, cautious in affairs;
ambitious, jealous. egoistic, better
master than servant, a better ruler than
subject. He was not the monster Of
ingratitude he has been held TO be; he
was no more impeccable than Napoleon