The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-01-16
The Wisdom of =
Napoleon-No.l4
He Understood the Value of Discussion.

The Importance of discussion Napoleon appreciated
thoroughly.
And he discussed like BIG man, selecting questions
to exhaust the mind and lead far away into fields OF widest
speculation
His no dreamers BRAIN giving to speculation the
time needed for doing First the real work of the day
hourhe planning and finishing of details from the dis
posing of army corps to the smallest final arrangements
Then, free from actual work. seeking relief from
cenrated application his brain sought rest in talk worth
while.
On his voyage to Egypt determined to waste time
he organized serious discussion methodcay he
organized fighting plan.
The discussions were regularly appointed affairs.
Needless to say Napoleon arranged everything and
trolled everything.
He selected the subject discussion he chose the three
on each side support and oppose any given PROPOSE
ton.
These were his favorite topics
First, THE ART OF WAR.
Second THE ART OF GOVERNMENT.
Third RELIGION
From his point of view his chief subjects for discussion
admirably chosen They represented the only
ing his fate hereafter
But his field of thought like the scope of his ambition
was unlimited.
THE AGE OF THE WORLD was one topic of discus
son rather hopeless in those days when the popular idea
OF fossils still maintained that they lived but repre-
sened Gods preliminary experiments in creating animals
Once he asked his chosen debater to decide whether the
planets inhabited.
Again he discussed this earhs probable ending-by fire
water.
he discussed also the meaning of dreams and the value
In practical life he discarded everything save realities
But discussion all abstract questions interested him.
may interest you to know that in general he denied
positively the existence of heperhaps that was caution on
his parand maintained that should die without
confessng his sins:
"only fool says that he will die without confessor
There is much we do not know and that we cannot
explain
deeply characteristic NapOleOns thought that he
should have declared for MahOmmedanism preference
He admired the religion of Mohammed.
Because 1t conquered onehaf the world in years
whereas it took three hundred for Christianity to
establish ITSELF
The old French King became converted because he
thought the Christian God beat HIS pagan god in battle
Napoleon had not Travelled far beyond that old king
The who seeks for all sorts of wisdom in Napoleon
will be deeply disappointed when he to anayze the
great fighters religious thought.
But for the hero worshper there comfort in this
Napoleon tr1hed with everything, EXCEPT THE FIRST
GREAT CAUSE
On the deck of his ship on fine night there was much
reverent hppant materialstic chatter. The revolution
had made atheism fashionable.
Napoleon was impressed by the calm night the blue,
dark water and silent stars shining down in cosic rebuke
of the tiny cyclists below
Toward the stars he pointed the short thick arm so
soon to rule this little planet:
"You may talk long as you please gentlemen but
WHO MADE ALL THAT?''
There answer and there was no more atheism
that night.
The man who to build up the Code Napoleon could
appreciate the force and necessity of law His mind real
lied the feebleness of coping with little problems
earth.
He felt that great laws, and a GREAT LAW GIVER
must swing and direct those millions of silent worlds above
When Napoleon was still Corsican patriot the great
Paoli said to him:
Napoleon you are not MODERN you talk like the
heroes of Putarch
Earnestness of the old kind indeed Napoeons char
actestic Emperor planning Asia from the back
of ornamented elephant poor half starved lad
taking of his muddy shoes the presence of the
matrony Madame Pemon and listening to her stories of
descent from the Emperors of Constantinople
Napoleon in his hours of work was DOER and in his
hours of leisure he DISCUSSER
He exercised constantly the two sides of his branthe
practical and speculative
Do the same, and succeed