Napoleon - Warrior And Ruler And the Military Supremacy Of Revolutionary France Warrior and Ruler and the Military Supremacy of Revolutionary France

WARRIOR AND THE MILITARY SUPREMACY OF REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE WILLIAM OCONNOR MORRIS SOMETIME SCHOLAR OP ORIEL COLLBGE OXFORD G. P. PUTNAMS - SONS NEW YORK LONDON 7 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STRBBT 84 BEDFORD STREET, STHAHD 1893 1893, nv G. I. IXJTJN-AJM S S01STS Entered at Stationers Hall, I ondon v O. I. ttaicftcc-tKJCftcr C eas, mew G. P. Ftj rNrAin s SONS PREFACE iAPOLEON has had many bio graphers, and his figure towers over all other figures during the first years of the present cen tury. Yet it is no easy task to pre sent to the reader an accurate and life-like image of this extraordinary man, and to disengage his personality from the masses of details, and of exaggerated fictions, which have gathered round it. Napoleon has been the subject of excessive adula tion, and of excessive detraction, beyond any emi nent man of modern times France made an idol of him for many years the kings and princes he con quered vied with each other in doing him homage and the greatest part of the civilised world joined in the chorus of eulogy. He suddenly fell, and a violent reaction set in in France the floodgates of calumny were let loose against him the Coalition of old Europe denounced him as an outlaw and he became the mark of inces sant, passionate, and most foul obloquy. As the animosities and fears of the time passed away, a more just estimate was gradually formed of the iii iv Preface. great warrior and ruler and the generation of writers, which flourished between 1830 and 1860, has pronounced the most trustworthy judgments which have been formed on Napoleon. But the work of elucidating the truth, and clearing away misrepresen tation and extravagance, was interrupted and when the Empire was restoredin France, the features of the real Napoleon were again obscured by clouds of flattering incense, or by the assiduous efforts of slanderers. The preponderance of defamation has been very great since the disastrous war of 1870-71, and the re-establishment of the Republic in France and it has had a marked effect on universal opinion. Notwithstanding these adverse influences, the genuine sources of information respecting Napoleon have largely increased and the world has, for a con siderable time, possessed the means of ascertaining to a very great extent, in writings emanating from himself, what this wonderful man was, and what is his proper place in history. The Commentaries and Correspondence of Napoleon have been published long ago and these records of the authors experi ences and career form the best available elements for a study of his life. Yet here, too, an impartial enquirer is, in some measure, baffled the Commen taries, written at St. Helena, abound in mistakes of fact, and are not seldom one-sided and unfair and there is reason to believe that large parts of the Cor respondence, of more or less importance, have been withheld from the public. Still these writings are of inestimable value they convey a vivid impression of Napoleons nature and character and this short Preface. v biography of the hero of modern France is largely founded on, and derived from them. The writings, however, of a single personage, what ever may have been his pre-eminence, cannot supply the materials of an adequate, or even a nearly ade quate account of the history of his time. I do not pretend to have read all that has been published about Napoleon but I can truly say I have read a great deal and thissketch shows, I hope, that I have studied the subject. I may briefly refer to a few of the principal authorities which relate to this memor able period, and to its master-spirit. The Autobi ography of Metternich, and the Memoirs of Harden berg, show what Napoleon, and his conduct, and policy were from the point of view of the leading men of Austria and Prussia and are of special value as regards the later part of the Emperors reign...