1821.] 
i 39 1 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS 
RECENTLY DECEASED. 
outline of the LIFE and CHARACTER 
of napoleon BONAPARTE, Empe¬ 
ror of the French , King of Italy , 
Sfc. fyc. 
T length that prodigy of huma¬ 
nity has ceased to exist, which, 
during this generation, has absorbed 
the attention of mankind—at length 
that meteor has disappeared, which, 
while it enlightened the world, terrified 
many nations—at length those vital 
energies have ceased, whose powers 
were once extended over Europe, and 
drew forth the re-action of the civilized 
world—at length that Conqueror is 
himself overcome, whose presence al¬ 
ways ensured victory over the bravest 
hosts, and who never suffered defeat, 
though sometimes baffled by treachery, 
or overpowered by numbers—at length 
that ambition is laid asleep for ever, 
which sought to conquer prejudices ; 
to anticipate centuries of time ; to unite 
Philosophy with Ignorance, and recon¬ 
cile rights with usurpation—at length 
Europe is relieved from the shame of 
continuing a sentence of Ostracism 
against a man whose character cre¬ 
ated an idolatry among millions, and 
enabled him to regulate kingdoms as 
his own household—at length, in fine, 
that great mau is no more, whose ge¬ 
nius and exalted character placed him 
as a champion between ancient esta¬ 
blishments and Ihe/ights of man, and 
between the pretensions of legitimacy, 
which assert that people were made for 
the benefit of rulers, and the just 
claims of reason, which assert that ru¬ 
lers were made for the benefit of people. 
The tactics of established power, 
aided by the prejudices of the multi¬ 
tude, have thus for a season prevailed 
over the self-elected representative of 
those principles which have taken too 
deep a root in the understandings of men 
ever to he eradicated. The victory has 
not been gained over tile principles, but 
over one who, with great admitted qua¬ 
lities, had nevertheless too many errors 
of humanity to be considered as the 
personification of the cause of truth. 
In being opposed by the worthless, his 
cause, however, became allied to the 
cause of virtue, and lie had the glory 
of resisting the machinations of a com¬ 
mon enemy, with such rare success, as 
to extort the admiration of all his con¬ 
temporaries. In this respect his cause 
was allied, therefore, to that of virtue 
and philosophy—but in this respect 
only ;—for his character was too much 
adulterated, and his personal ambition 
was too much at variance with the 
rights of his fellow men, to allow of his 
being considered by them as the cham¬ 
pion of that great cause, the ultimate 
triumph of which must, in a remote 
age, be secured by the pen and the press, 
and not by the desolating arts of war. 
This great man was horn at Ajaccio, 
in Corsica, on the 15th of Aug. 1769, a 
period just long enough in advance of the 
French revolution, to cause both to ar¬ 
rive at maturity in the same year. He 
was therefore personally identified with 
that revolution—was brought up amid 
the conflict of opinions which produced 
it; and found himself qualified to seek 
his fortunes in its vicissitudes, by ar¬ 
riving at manhood in the very year in 
which the Bastille was taken. 
He was the second son of eight child¬ 
ren, named Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, 
Lewis, Jerome, Elizabeth, Paulina, and 
Caroline. Charles Bonaparte, the fa¬ 
ther, was assessor to the tribunal of 
Ajaccio. The patronage afforded to 
him by the Count de Marbceuf, who go¬ 
verned the island of Corsica after its 
conquest by the French, led to the pro¬ 
tection of the family of Bonaparte, on 
the death of the father. It was through 
his means that young Napoleon was 
sent to the military school of Brienne, 
and afterwards to that of Paris, in qua¬ 
lity of a king’s scholar. He there ex¬ 
hibited very early a desire to acquire a 
superior knowledge of mathematics, 
and a taste for military exercises; but 
naturally of a retired disposition, he 
seldom mixed with his comrades. He 
was invariably fond of imitating the 
manners and language of the ancients, 
particularly of "the Spartans, whose 
phrases and pithy manners he adopted. 
His propensity to mathematical stu¬ 
dies was injurious to his progress in 
the more ornamental branches of litera¬ 
ture; so that he is said never to have 
acquired a perfect knowledge of the 
grammar even of his own language, 
though his public compositions and 
bulletins are so much distinguished by 
their eloquence. 
In the year 1785, he underwent an 
examination 
