1821 .] Memoirs of Napcrleon. 5 1 
the battle of Waterloo, which delivered 
Europe into the hands of the combined 
legitimates. 
Thus fell Napoleon le Grand —a man 
to whom history presents no resem¬ 
blance ; and who was the object either 
of the hopes and fears, the love and ha¬ 
tred, the admiration and envy, of all 
his contemporaries. Many of his friends 
wished, for the sake of his glory, that 
he had died on the day he entered 
Moscow; or, for the sake of his happi¬ 
ness, that he had been killed at Mont 
St. Jean ; but in the inglorious triumph 
of his enemies he had an opportunity 
of perfect ing the portrait of his charac¬ 
ter by his resignation in adversity, and 
by exhibiting the passive virtues just 
as in his former days he had displayed 
the heroic ones. He lived, too, in hope ; 
for lie well knew the feelings of the 
people of Europe relative to himself 
and his enemies, and he never ceased 
to believe that changes would take place 
in his favour. The scene is now closed 
—but we think he would not have been 
disappointed, had he lived a few years 
longer. The tears that have been shed 
by the brave and virtuous, in France, 
and other countries, on the occasion of 
his death, have indicated feelings 
which, in due time, would have been 
likely to restore him to society. 
How short his career! It is but as 
yesterday since he first was heard of 
as the hopes of the republican cause in 
Italy—then in a sort of Egyptian and 
Syrian romance—afterwards as First 
Consul and Peace Maker—then as 
Emepror and King, resister of unjust 
aggressions, and master of Europe from 
Cadiz to Moscow, and fromHamburgh to 
Otranto—the episode of Elba followed, 
the glorious return to Paris, and its 
unfortunate issue! Yet, short as was 
the period in the eyes of contempora¬ 
ries, he governed France 16 years, or 
four years longer than the reign of 
Alexander, and nine years longer than 
the dictatorship of Caesar, periods which, 
though so short, make so conspicuous a 
figure in the history of the world. 
The low insults and privations to 
which this illustrious man was sub¬ 
jected under the magnanimous regimen 
prescribed or permitted at St. Helena, 
are subjects on which, with all our li¬ 
berty of the press, we forbear, from mo¬ 
tives of prudence or delicacy, to enlarge. 
Attempts may be made to justify them, 
and it would be unfair to anticipate the 
defence. We do not hesitate to state. 
for the honour of the age, however, 
that mankind in general have sympa¬ 
thized with the sufferer, and that the 
people of England have, at least, been 
greatly divided in their opinions. It is 
difficult, in thinking on this subject, 
not to recur to iEsop’s admirable Fable 
of the Sick Lion kicked by the Ass— 
and this, we have little doubt, will be 
the mental association of all posterity. 
The security of the peace of Europe 
is cantingly adduced in justification of 
these violations of hospitality—but, we 
ask, whose passions endangered that 
peace ?—and we re-affirm, for the hun¬ 
dred th time, that if the treaty of Amiens 
had been respected, and if confederacy 
after confederacy had not been formed 
against him, Napoleon would have 
stedfastly employed himself through 
life in cultivating the arts of peace, and 
in rendering Franee the happiest coun¬ 
try on earth. Such is the opinion of 
those who knew him best, con finned by 
facts connected with the origin and ter¬ 
mination of the wars in which he 
was engaged. To the bad faith, jea¬ 
lousy, prejudices, and odious passions 
of those who originated the wars against 
the French revolution, and every thing 
which sprung from it, are, in truth, to be 
ascribed all the horrors of the late wars ; 
and against their errors, and not those 
of Napoleon, was security requisite. 
At the same time we admit that Na¬ 
poleon was dazzled by success and flat¬ 
tery, and in yielding to their seduc¬ 
tions, he furnished another proof that 
unlimited power ought not to be trusted 
to fallible man, however good or wise. 
If a genuine representative system had 
existed in France, or if he could have 
suffered his government to be physicked 
even by over doses, of the liberty of the 
press, he would have been checked in 
his career of power, and would have 
been warned and instructed by the ob 
servations of bye-standers. The cir¬ 
cumstances of the moment, perhaps, 
rendered a truly popular government 
dangerous, and the unceasing conspi¬ 
racies of the continental despots, ren¬ 
dered the press an available instrument 
of treason: besides, Napoleon was a 
man—a military man—habituated to 
undivided authority, and obliged dur¬ 
ing every hour of his reign to act on the 
defensive. Yet, under these circum¬ 
stances, he formed and promulgated 
the Five Codes, which still continue 
the equitable and intelligible laws of 
France, and will in all ages serve as a 
monument 
