614 



BONAPARTE. 



and white. His feet also were small ; hut this parti- 

 cular was less ohscnahle, as he was averse to tight 

 shoes. Before he hern me fat. liis figure was, on the 

 whole, well proportioned. When past thirty, he be- 

 gan to be corpulent, which he disliked ; before that 

 time, he was lean. Extreme cleanliness was natural 

 to him : he was very fond of the warm bath, and not 

 unfre(|iiently remained a whole hour in it. In eating 

 and drinking, he was extremely moderate, never hav- 

 ing been known to exceed the bounds of temperance. 

 His sleep was in proportion to his labours; but in 

 tliis, too, he was moderate. His face, like that of 

 Frederic the Great, was of such a character, as to be 

 recognized, however rudely or slightly drawn. 



The distinguishing characteristics of Napoleon 

 were derision, self-reliance, energy, and promptitude 

 af action all soldierly qualities, but mixed up in him 

 with a clearness of discernment, and a facility of cal- 

 culating and combining physical results, which form 

 at once the incentive and mainspring of prosperous 

 enterprise. As a soldier, indeed, he exhibited the 

 highest order of genius that of invention. He con- 

 I a new mode of warfare, founded on a scientific 

 mid rapid movement of vast masses; which, until 

 practised and understood by his opponents, rendered 

 him almost necessarily victorious. He, in fact, alto- 

 gether changed the modern art of war ; and he long 

 profited by the priority of discovery. Looking at the 

 moral complexion of his intellectuality, it is evident 

 that the common selfishness of ambition actuated him ; 

 and that, like most fortunate soldiers, the glory atten- 

 dant upon domination and mastery, dazzled him more 

 than tile nobler species, which gives such a fine 

 lustre to the names of Washington and Bolivar. This 

 is not the less true, because his ambition was compar- 

 atively enlightened, and that he sought the improve- 

 ment of society by much salutary reform in every direc- 

 tion, which militated not against his own ascendancy. 

 His abolition of monkery and fanaticism, wherever 

 he could reach them ; his removal of all the rem- 

 nants of feudal servitude ; and his completion of an 

 adequate and estimable code of laws, regulative of 

 justice between man and man, are all compatible 

 with the most selfish ambition, such improvements 

 being the interest of every order of rulers, if the blind- 

 ness of despotism could be made to think so. All 

 this good was not only consistent with the devouring 

 ambition of Napoleon, but materially aided it. He 

 modelled himself upon ancient hero sm ; but it was 

 that of the Alexander and Caesar class, in preference 

 to the purer models of Grecian and Roman patriotism 

 and disinterestedness, which indeed would have 

 encountered a very uncongenial soil in modern 

 France. Heroes of this description always place the 

 essence of government in a single will, and that their 

 own. Their subjects will be allowed to improve, 

 but never to become independent, or to acquire 

 any foundation for their prosperity which will release 

 them from leading-strings, and enable them to proceed 

 alone on the strength ot free and vigorous institutions. 

 The conversations of Bonaparte, as related by Mr 

 O'Meara, Count Las Casas, and others, develope 

 grand views and striking intentions, but they all 

 partake of the foregoing ctiaracteristics ; as, witness 

 His intended institution Tor the general education of 

 the offspring of the princes of Europe. Neither did 

 the nature of his genius and acquirements enable him 

 to perceive the intimate connexion between genuine 

 national prosperity, and a due understanding and 

 administration of the principles which regulate com- 

 mercial intercourse, and the domestic sources ol 

 social well-being. His ignorance on these heads, 

 speaking of the Berlin decrees, may be even said to 

 have led to his ruin. In other respects, too, the di- 

 rectness aad strength of his genius is more apparent 



han his power of philosophical appreciation and in- 

 liiction. It is clear, that he partook of the supersti- 

 ion which so frequently haunts the minds of those 

 who encounter the extremes of gmxl or bad fortune, 

 that of fatality or destiny ; and on the strength of 

 ,his vain self-delusion he shut his eyes to the ex- 

 treme danger or presumption of an eternal warlike 

 jame of double or quits. To the same weak prepos- 

 session, is also to be traced his exclusive confidence 

 n the elements of fire, and carelessness of moral, as 

 opposed to physical resistance which generally, 

 lowever, in the sequel, are typified by the progress 

 of the hare and the tortoise, as he lived to prove. 

 This is also a soldierly failing. Regarded in a more 

 amiliar point, of view, he appears to great advantage. 

 In a country like France, he had the good taste to 

 discountenance its fashionable profligacy, and his 

 court was the most moral in Europe. He loved and 

 encouraged talent of every kind, and was a most 

 liberal and enlightened patron of the arts and sciences. 

 At the same time, careless as he was of human life 

 n the field, and on military emergencies, he exhi- 

 bited none of the fretful cruelty and apprehension of 

 timid despotism. On the whole, of his own class of 

 reat men, he is doubtless the first on modern record ; 

 and with a due condemnation of his aggressive war- 

 fare, and lavish waste of human life, he may lie said 

 to have indirectly effected much good, as well as 

 evil, in Europe. The time U past, for either ridicu- 

 lously blackening his character in the pure babyism 

 of national animosity ; or, dazzled by his extraordinary 

 talents and a hatred to much which lie overthrew- 

 and still more to much that his overthrow may re- 

 store to regard him as an unequivocally great man, 

 and a benefactor to his species. 



The following chronological table of the events of 

 Napoleon's life and reign will, perhaps, be acceptable 

 to our readers : 



1769. Born at Ajaccio, Aug. 19. 



1779. Sent to the military school at Brienne. 



1784. Selected to complete his education at the military 

 school in Paris. 



1786. Commissioned as second lieutenant of artillery, and 

 the same year promoted to a first lieutenancy. 



1792. While on a furlough in Corsica, commands a batta- 

 lion against Ajaccio. 



1793. : Obliged to leave Corsica, on account of his opposition 

 to the designs of Paoli. Promoted, July, to a cap- 

 taincy. Commandant of artillery at the siege of Tou- 

 lon. Dec. 19, appointed brigadier-general of artillery 

 in Italy. 



1795. 13 Vendfmlaire (Oct 5), defeats the attack of the sec- 

 tions on the convention. Appointed commander-in- 

 chief of the army of the interior. 



1790. Appointed conimander-in-rhief of the army of Italy, 

 Feb. 23. Married, March 9. Battle of Montenotte, 

 April 11 ; of Millesimo, 14 ; of Mondovi, 22 ; of Lodi, 

 May 8, Peace with Sardinia. Battle of Castiglione, 

 Aug. 5 ; of Roveredo, Sept. 4 ; of Bassano, 8 ; of Ar- 

 cola, NOT. 1517. 



1797. Battle of Rivoli, Jan. 14; of Favorita, 16. Peace of 

 Tolentino with the pope, Feb. 19. Victory over the 

 archduke Charles, on the Tagliamento, March 1C 

 Capture of Gradisca, 19; of Trieste, 21. Prelimina- 

 ries of Leobeu, April 18. Occupation of Venice, May 

 16. Formation of the Ligurian republic, 31. Procla- 

 mation of the Cisalpine republic, July 8. Peace of 

 Campo-Formio, Oct. 17, with Austria. 



1798. Bonaparte sails for Egypt from Toulon, May 19. 

 Battle of the Pyramids, July 21 ; of the Nile, Aug. 1. 



1799. Capture of Jaffa, March 10. Siege of Acre raised, 

 May 20. Battle of Aboukir, July 25. Bonaparte sail* 

 from Egypt, Aug. 17. Revolution of 18th Brumaire 

 Nov. 9. Bonaparte named first consul, Dec. 13. 



1800. Constitution of the year VIII., Feb. 7. Victories of 

 Montebello, June 9, and Marengo, 14, gained by ge- 

 neral Bonaparte. Armistice with Austria. Nomina- 

 tion of the commission for drawing up a new code, 

 Aug. 12. Conspiracy of Arena, Oct. 9, discovered. 

 Explosion of the infernal machine, Dec. 24. 



1801. Peace of Luneville, Feb. 9, with Austria i peace witfc 

 Spain, March 1 ; with Naples, 29. Concordats w i'li 

 the pope, July 15. Peace with Bavaria, Aug. 24; 

 with Portugal, Sept. 29. Preliminaries of peace with 



