GIANTS OF THE EARTH.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1907, Page 6

GIANTS OF THE EARTH.

[By H. D. Bedford!;]

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Napoleon was little more than sft high, vet he bestrid the world like a colossus. He was born the son of an obscure Corsican, yet for ten years he filled the imagination of Europe and distilled its. heart to jelly with the downright fear he inspired. Hl3 character has no parallel in modern history. If greatness lies in looming large upon the sky-line of human affairs, he achieved it par excellence. 1-H was one of those of whom ancient history affords not a few examples— v.iio are transcendently wicked. But the (singularity of the man appears in this: that in an age when Christian principles for eighteen hundred years had been subduing man's native ferocity and mellowing his character a Napoleon should have been possible. During the past two centuries most or the outstanding men have been marked by conspicuous virtues; their personai ambition has been sanctified, by ardent patriotism or moral enthusiasm. To find instances in any multitude of conouering ambition untempered by such qualities one needs to run well back into the dim past. .-.Napoleon is an anachronism; his temperament belongs to the times of Nero or of Alexander the Great. His birth was post-dated at ieast 2000 years. He had the passions and aims of a mere selj'-aggrandising despot. By. the sheer force of a commanding intellect, working upon the wreckage of the French Revolution, he made Europe reach back twenty centuries for principles of government. With the impudence of conscious genius, his fiat went forth that the thought and progress of the intervening ages should count for nothing; the human race should begin at the starting-posts once more. So tremendous Avas the force he exerted that for a few agonising years .it seemed that he would triumph; but at'length the accumulated weight of those twenty hundred yeara.-crushed him; and, indeed, he who puts lance in rest against the Spirit of advancement to higher and yet higher ideals must sooner or later ■'be'overthrown-and bite the dust. Only the true' and good is everlasting. Bankruptcy and dissolution must in time sweep' down the false and tyrannical.

Napoleon was an eye-witness of the most harrowing sights of the French Revolution.. He beheld the storm of the Tuilleries in Paris when the streets ran with blood. Thus his cold, calculating nature early became habituated to carnage. At this time he was an unknown youth, skilled in mathematics, learned in geography and history, and much given to criticism of the generalship of the military leaders. Introspection soon revealed to him his own superior powers, and with this consciousness the fierce flame of an eager ambition for power and dominion burst forth.. Henceforth he regarded himself as a man of destiny. He discovered that at school his companions vrere "hundreds of fathoms below the noble sentiments which animated htn;;*lf." It was not long before the fulness of his pride led him into the utterance that the men j among whom he lived had " ways of thinking as different from lm own as moonlight is from sunlight." His quick apprehension soon saw the expediency of echoing the catch-cries and adopting the Republican sentiinontalism of the time. He applied himself to the study of Rousseau, and in execrable diction wrote pamphlets so-ardent apparently for "fraternity" and " equality " as to win the enduring friendship of Robespierre. So he played his part. When the mob of Paris threatened" the National Assembly with annihilation in that last phase of national dissolution, when the revolutionaries were split up into factions, each butchering the other, Napoleon found his opportunity. In the absence of ability and courage on the part of his superior officers, he wns ordered to quell the disturbance. With characteristic disdain of halfmeasures, he opened the throats of hh cannon, sending a deadly hail of sliMi down the thoroughfares, which teamed with infuriated Parisians. The very audacity of £he action won its: end. From this time .Napoleon" was a manvJtnarked. for big -things.

fiut a few ; years have passed when' iw see him in command of, the French" Army in Italy. The occasion,, of-his mission there requires a prefatory word. While France was engaged in boheading priests, nobles, and princes, and pulling down churches, palaces, and thrones, a league of the kingdoms of Europe was formed to arrest the democratic spirit and protect regal authority. This coalition threatened the Republic in her hour of greatest peril, and many vows were registered that when the invading forces were driven back the armies of France should follow them into their own countries, strike down sceptres,, shatter coronets, and establish representative Governments on the basis of fraternity and equality. Napoleon entered Italy as her liberator from the dominion of the Emperor of Austria. Ho went as the friend of republics and t!i3 etiemv of despotism, fie was the envoy of France, whose sword was to carry the gospel of freedom to all king-ridden peoples. With this protext on his lips he concealed a dark purpose in his heart. In reality ha Iwxl. but one aim—the exaltation of himself by the subjugation of Italy. After a campaign of dazzling brilliance, he defeated the Austrians utterly, and got Italy completely in the grip of his power. Then hjs perfidy appeared. Loud had been his professions of sympathy with the struggles of the ancient Republic of Venice to maintain her independence. He crushed her inveterate enemy Austria," entered the city in the guise of'friendship, then trampled on her rights, and destroyed''her fiee institutions; and subsequently, when making peace with Austria, ceded her in exchange for territory in Western Europe. Venire had been a republic for over 400 yon vs. He who came as benefactor iipnded over her liberties to a foreign dospot. But this is little in compari--son with the atropities which Napol<l(,n —the upholder of liberty, fraterni'.y and justice—perpetrated in his career of conquest through that distressed land. He acted as though he ■had a charter for indiscriminate con-. quest and plunder. The same spirit lio inculcated in his soldiers'. At" the outa-sb of the campaign he thus excited

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the lust for robbery in his men : " Soldiers, you are naked and ill-fed. I will lead you into the most fruitful plains of the world. Rich provinces and great cities shall be in your power. There you will find honour and fame and wealth." The churches of Italy were stript of their riches; tens of thousands of homes were desolated \ the treasures of the best art galleries were exported to France. Napoleon I insisted oil his officers showing the example of cupidity, and censured Marmont for not appropriating enough spoil. There are many horrors unavoidable in war, but international law has done its best to reduce them to a. minimum consistent with the object of hostilities. The property and lives of neutrals are respected. A similar protection is extended .to non-combatants —women and children—of beligerent countries. Such was the law in Napoleon's time, but .respect to it he did not deem consonant with his ambition. He aspired to be the world's terror. As an instance, take the fate of the city of Pavia; This city had sufficient insight to perceive the hollowness of Napoleon's pretensions, and sufficient independence to resist his real purposes. He determined, to make her contumacy a warning which none could -mistake. On entering the city he ordered all arms to be surrendered. Then came a second order, by which the city of Pavia was given up to pillage for twenty-four hours. During the rest of that day and the whole of the following night the soldiers rioted in plunder, violence, and debauch. The domestic privacy of the houses of the inhabitants was invaded by maddened and lustful soldiery. The great Napoleon ordered that the passions of men should be let loose for twentyfour hours!

The rapacity of the man is known in the orders issued on the sack of the city of Verona. The inhabitants were to defray the expenses of the army. All horses and carriages, boots, clothes, linen, etCv, were to be handed, over for its use; the gold and silver of the churches and Government establishments were to be confiscated, also all paintings and works of art; the leaders of the insurrection were to be shot; and heavy contributions regularly levied whilst the army remained in Italy.

Or, again, look at the "Little Gorsican " on his invasion of Egypt. Egypt at the time was under the sovereignty of Turkey; Turkey was at peace with France. But Napoleon had dreams of Eastern empire which would brook no such moral impediment. There was ho occasion of'quarrel. The impelling force was mere greed of dominion. To satisfy this his camion thundered on the banks of the Nile: After one great battle he was encumbered with upwards of 4000 prisoners. He lined them up unarmed upon the shore of the river, and told his army, to practise shooting. Some •who endeavoured to escape by- swimming were decoyed back by signals of promised -9afe.ty.7-' .As, they -returned

their heads were shot off. On another occasion, in Cairo, he wanted to impress the Turks with a fitting sense of his power. He filled sacks with the heads of rebellious chiefs, and emptied them in the public square of the city. Throughout the whole course of his life he presents the spectacle of a man running the race for supremacy, having first stript himself of all encumbrances, such as conscience, religion, und moral principle.