The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1815-09-08 (London, England)

DON,MIRTE.  Na character was ever inore likely to attract the attention of posterity than that of Bonaparte. Not oats the conquests lie has achieved, the capacity he has displayed, and the desigis to which those con.itiests, and that capacity were directed, bnt his reveries his errors, and his fall, must render him sn nhject of peculiar interest, in the times that are to suteved us. Acting iii the most eventful period, and influencing its evenwi orertioreing and erecting depa-ins; anti crooning Soyereigus, and declining from all this into the condition of an exile' naval a pri,oner, his refines have secured him a place to the studies of future Stateinen,astal even ill the assiduities of those who read history as they read minatice—for the eutertaiiiment of its remarkable .and splendid vicissitudes. We may notice amalig the number of those instances which illustrate the prtiterlice inseparable from enutemrocuiy :Inclement, find the talents of this extraoriliwiry 01:01. have been often disputed. Hiselevntion from private life to the dignity of a throue, at u period when Franee was not deficient in the production of able men; the variety and the inegui tilde of his su•Terzes ; the extent of his power, and the terror of tiame, hare not succeeded in rendering his ititelectual elaitnA intelligible, to all understandings. But tale jitages from whom his reputation has most to apprehend, are those who, allowing his talents, eontiartthein with the jnerposes to which they have been rendered subservient. At the satue time it wool,' not be fair to charge upon hint, exclusively, the evils of that military system under which the world Inai so long grained. Part of it must be attributed to the restless disposition of the French people; pot to the unruly spirit which was generated by the Revolution; part to the indignant recollection of the conduct panned by other countries at the period of that great struggle, and, certainly, no small part to the genius and character of an individual who was Laairil by nature to govern its times of tumult, to supply the want ui hereditary claimity the exercise of !personal conduct and severity, and pour the torrent of threw conflicting principles, which threatened ruin at lionie, upon the tuitions of devoted Europe. In the iirosevutiou of this arduous talk, which seems tit 140 Yr been "Winn eOII4IMGELMI into a system for the establisliment of universal Empire, no difficulty could present itself that was not undertaken, 110 danger that was not encountered, and no prin. tilde that was nut either adopted, comproiniaed, or alraudottell. as the occasion might seem to require. Terrible alike to Monarchies and to Republics, he dictated siteceasiow., altered constitutions, blended or dissevered territories, and subverted laws. Ant tent limit and ancient usage were equally the subjects of a moving mid arbitrary scale. Ile disturbed the geography amid •disdained the d of Europe; he defaced the regale,' of treats, and proseriptiou, nod opposed himself to the habits of centuries. ]low fir he might have succeeded towards the accomplishment of his vast lb sign, it is imptmosilde to conjecture now; one thing, however, is clear, that his overthrow was prodma-d rather be a con, urrence of accidental circumstances, than by any direct eotiseeptence of the s) stilts 011014 which lie acted, orthe attempt to which lie fell a Perriaice—the premature said unexampled severity of the sinter, said the burning of Moscow, decided Lis fate.  Were we to judge of loam at a monarch, according to our English 000t.ons. we ,Itutild find much to celltore. stool even to detest ; but perhaps the Monarch of the French should be n mail that would lose his head in Englund. At all eve" it cannot be fair to try his merits, in this respect, by a standard to "itch he had we ides, and was hound. by no ohli'4ol.lll to morons them. The French People ure the best judges of the Governorate they would refer, and it is No small evidence of his skill in the adaptation, that e•eio after this disasters, he lots kit rco;ret behind him, and that his slime is still citerishetl,rad his memory still dear, at a period when elosiste all utracloonents, whether natural or politleal, were nearly philosophized away. As a winvenr, he haul fstv superiors io the ages that have passed—it will be for history to determine boweeto him and the most illustrious of his contensporarit s. As a man tried to the extremes of hoirsen Inatome, be seems to have heen more capable the frowns of adversity then the intoxiNouns of stiece:s. However some of his friends May lament, and some of his enemies may decry, the !riot of that stage etfict which suicide won hl, its their judgment, loose etudes red upon his exi o titan power, the omission is entitled to the praise of fortitude.  It is front the meridian of his prosperity that the amities of hitoimpedehmeot must be collected. To slit' that he wits the worst of conqiiernirs tYIIIII4I be a stretch of invective, which, with all his violence, he kis not thisoreett; but he Wag ttrittitute•nithat hit Ii Sell.* of honour which is necessary to constitute the hero, and should Ise the more. rigidly tlis. asoodeil at their lama-, :is it is often their only sirtin.. It islortimate-fr•los torero, and mu); one 1,1;A poweifully martini-I lite iiiikatirm Of lien vet-iiiet which :in iinparti:tt posterity trill prithotioce illittil hnn, that he is to Lie -compare:l trttll Jltose .haracters rt ho Iwvr.. twat,. it their bosiniss to subdue; that heento eurrostl ve•topy to it -gsvot height, himself by Licilisatiu4 the sirstructinii Of-his own sprcies. lie his token his pace nArnes, aisiniig whom h.: will titre! many to countenance the most outrageous of his  411  M►MR.