200 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



lished the happiness of both the governors and 

 the governed, over all the civilised world, for ages 

 to come. Although he had the example of the 

 incomparable Washington before him, he did not 

 copy it. He ceased to be first consul, managed 

 to assume the title of emperor, married an 

 Austrian archduchess, and became one of the 

 Legitimates. This added to the stock of his 

 ambition, and from that time he began to decline. 

 Fortune at length seemed to frown upon him, and 

 the frost and snow of Russia cut off and destroyed 

 his immensely large and well-appointed army. 

 He was baffled in his strenuous efforts to repair 

 his loss, and his defeat at Waterloo sealed his ruin. 

 One would think that the gaining of worlds 

 would not compensate for the misery and the 

 horrid waste of human life which are the certain 

 attendants of war ; and one would wonder what 

 kind of materials men are made of, or what kind 

 of minds and souls direct the actions of the authors 

 of it. Were they to reflect, it may be fairly con- 

 cluded that they could not bear their own thoughts, 

 and that, after taking a full survey of the 

 wretchedness they had occasioned, they would 

 go immediately and hang themselves. But it 

 would appear that the lives of human beings 

 weigh little in the scale of great man-killers. 

 They are perhaps not fitted for reflection, or only 

 for that kind of it which can look at nothing but 

 ambition or private gain. It would be well for 

 the abettors and advocates of war to try to weigh 

 the profit and loss (setting aside the inhumanity) 

 attendant upon it. This we should do at home ; 

 and, instead of celebrating the birthday of the 

 " Heaven-born minister," ask his admirers how 



