Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1927-12-15
FINE ESSAY ON OBSTINATE
OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE'

FINE ESSAf ON ES IMAIE
OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE"
Blowing Rock, Dec. 1.-THE tenth
grade history class of the Blowing
Rock high school has just finished an
unusual assignment for pupils of
that age. 1t was an essay of 600
words, entitled, ''An Estimate of
Napoleon Boneparte." All of the
pupils wrote excellent essays. Those
who wrote them were Velma Can
non, Lucille Coffey, Bynum Crisp,
Paul Foster, William Holshouser,
Edna Miller, Lucille Reid. Penn Rob-
bins, Elizabeth Sudderth, William
White and Beulah Wooten.
The following paper was written
by William HolshOuser:
Napoleon Bonaparte ranks, with
Alexander, Caesar and Charlie
mango, among the greatest men the
world has ever seen. He possessed
military greatness and ability as a
statesman in the highest degree. In
his first important command, general
Of the French army in Italy, Napole-
on had either routed or destroyed
five armies, each larger than his
own, in year and half after tax
ing command. His ability as an ad-
ministGator is shown by the way he
reorganized France and Europe aft
er he became emperor. By his geni-
us as warrior and a statesman he
made France the most powerful ma.
tion in the world, ard himself the
4uler of almost all Europe.
Napoleon raised France out OF
the anarchy into which the nation
had fallen after the French Revolu.
tion. AS first consul he gave
France strong, centralized govern
ment, bringing every department of
the government directly under his
control. Even the mayors of the
larger towns and cities owed their
positions to the first consul. Napole-
on adopted the single uniform code
of laws worked out by the national
convention. He gave every man in
France the fullest opportunity for
self-development and advancement.
He insisted upon equal rights for all
men. Citizens of all ranks might
try for office, honors, wealth and
other distinctions. Napoleon re-
formed the finances of France so
that at the end of his rule there was
no debt left on France. He built
roads and bridges, improved the
harbors, encouraged trade and es-
tablished schools
''On the other hand he reduced
France and the other nations Of Eu-
rope almost to poverty by his wars
and the disastrous continental sys-
tenn. He was noted for his great
selfishness and his untruthfulness.
He gave France a strong, efficient
form of government, not for the
benefit of the people, but because he
knew that it would help him to be-
come master of Europe and perhaps
the world. The only time that he
ever kept promise was when he
thought it would benefit him more
than if he broke it. His untruthful-
ness is shown by the way he tried
to conquer Spain, the nation that
was more friendly to him than any
nation in Europe at the time. He
also declared war on Russia after
signing treaty to allow Alexander
czar of Russia, a free hand in east
ern Europe. He had no. religion OF
his own, but restored the church to
France, so that he could get control
of the church.
"All this shows that Napoleon was
the greatest genius, both as ruler
and a military commander, had the
greatest love for war, was the most
ambitious, the most selfish, and the
most untruthful of all men in his.
tory. He thought of nobody but
Napoleon. Napoleon might be com
pared to a baseball pitcher, who
had been pitching a no-hit game fol-
seven innings and suddenly blows w
in the eighth inning. The Russian
invasion could be compared to the
eighth inning.
Although Napoleon saved France
for time, he let it fall back further
than he raised it. France after tn,
me of Napoleon, went back to thu
time of Louis XIV. Considering
these things, and the number of war
that he started, and that he reduced
the height of the average Frenchmal
abut two inches by these wars,
think that Napoleon" did more harm