terms are contradictory. Mohamedism is a sensual religion, but sensuality and materialism are not convertible terms, and for absolute faith in the divine will there are none like the followers of Islam. Materialism in philosophy invariably leads to skepticism, and a skeptical Mohamedan is as rare as a white blackbird. On the other side, sensuality was hateful to Napoleon, as everything was which tended to mental or physical weakness. His creed was the gospel of strength. He courted the favor of the Sheiks in Egypt as Alexander did that of the Persian Magi, in order to obtain political, as well as military, control of the country; but there is no trustworthy evidence that he went so far in this as to compromise himself as a Christian. What we gather from the various comments on religious subjects which have been reported of Napoleon, is that he had no very definite religious creed, though a very decided religious faith. He makes some such statement of himself somewhere, and it is a very fine one. Such was the mental attitude of Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, and many others, and it testifies to the depth and sincerity of Napoleon's moral nature. As Goethe states it in Faust: "Who can say I know Him, who can say I know Him not?" He was too much of an idealist to be called a materialist; too practical, perhaps, to be called an idealist. You might call him an idealist-utilatarian. His mind always preserved an equitable balance between theory and practice. He read little philosophy and had a particular horror of what he called idealoges-doctrines such as Fourier and John Stuart Mill. Lord Rosebery, however, admits what Metterich denies, that Napoleon was a true statesman; that the earlier period of his government might be termed ideal; that he was by nature of a kindly disposition and wished to do what was right; that he preserved the fruits of the French revolution to posterity; that he was the greatest of generals, and one of the greatest of law givers; that his wars were mainly forced upon him; and that he had only one fair opportunity of making peace (in the summer of 1806), which "either his suspicion or his madness" prevented him from seizing. It is generally supposed that the death of Charles James Fox prevented Napoleon from making peace with England in 1806, and Napoleon intimates this in a letter to his brother, Joseph, written at the time; but it is not probable that an enduring peace could have been consummated, so long as Holland, Belgium, and France remained under the same government. In regard to the numerous records of Napoleon's mournful life at St. Helena -the fifth act of the tragedy-Rosebery considers General Gourgand's diary to be the most veracious and trustworthy, on the ground that it was evidently not intended for publication. This, like the others, cannot be proved, though he assigns plausible reasons which have their value; but it seems like a narrow basis on which to form a judgment. In such cases the character of the individual should always be taken into account. General Gourgand was one of the bravest and most devoted of Napoleon's personal adherents, but his portrait, as well as his diary, indicates a man of not more than mediocre intellect. He served the Emperor as a sort of staff detective. He discovered the mines which were intended to blow up Napoleon at Moscow, and killed a dragoon who was attacking Napoleon at the battle of Brienne. Once, when the Emperor's party were out walking at St Helena, they were threatened by a drunken or insane British soldier, who leveled his musket and ordered them to halt. Napoleon merely said: "General Gourgand, take charge of that fellow." Gourgand made a sort of flank movement, then suddenly darted on the soldier and wrested his weapon from him in a twinkling. This, however, would seem to have been the limit of his capacity. Napoleon surely would not have approved of the statement which Gourgand published concerning the battle of Water commander, but Napoleon made use of him to discover the movements of the Russians at Friedland, and to open communication with Davout at Eckmuhl--at the risk of a dozen lives. His accounts of the battle of Austerlitz, Friedland, and Eckmuhl, although incomplete, have the vitality of an eyewitness. After Fouches' retirement Napoleon made Savary superintendent cf police. He followed the Emperor to England, but he was proscribed by Louis XVIII. and the British government imprisoned him at Gibraltar,, when he afterwards escaped to Asia Minor and returned to France after twelve years of exile. His life was one of the most adventurous and interesting of that stirring period. He was a man of astute intelligence, and his writing has much of the frankness, directness, and perspicacity of Napoleon's own. If he appears somewhat too favorable to Napoleon, it is not in what he says, but in what he leaves unsaid. His points are well taken, and his remarks on the condemnation and execution of the Duc d'Eng hien are the most judicious of any among his contemporaries. Count Las Cases belonged to the old French nobility, and his writing has the tone of high cultivation. He fled to England at the outset of the reign. of terror and supported himself there by the publication of what he called an atlas, but which would seem to have been an epitome of the history of nations. He returned to France by favor of Napoleon's amnesty, and soon became so convinced of the good intentions of the Emperor that he accepted a position in the government Napoleon, however, saw or knew little of him, until after the battle of Waterloo he was surprised by Las Cases's determination to acompany him in exile. Las Cases was sent away from St. Helena by Sir Hudson for secret though perfectly honorable communication with Napoleon's friends in Europe. Sir Hudson made a mistake, and attempted to rectify it by having Las Cases detained at the Cape of Good Hope for some six months, during which time he suffered severely from the vindictiveness of the British officials there. He was not permitted to land in England for fear of the information he might circulate concerning the ill-treatment of Napoleon, but he was hustled over to Rhenish Prussia, where he suffered similar grievances to those at the Cape. His book bears every mark of an honorable man and a conscientious writer. * He afterwards republished this in Paris under a nom de plume, but the French Academy frowned upon it Las Cases reports that one of the Academicians told him that "they did not believe in literary work which emanated from the nobility." This was the way in which they afterwards treated Dr. Morton, the discoverer of etherization. S GLEN NOBLE* By WINSLOW HALL CHAPTER XXIX. UPPLEMENTING these conditions, Glen went on to say that there was food for deep reflection in the fact that the strictly native population, which complacent theorists hold up to us as able to "assimilate" unrestricted immigration, is sadly decreasing instead of increasing, in all the older sections of the country. In New England, for instance, he cited by substantiating figures, there are actually one and a half more deaths than births among every thousand people whose parents are native-born. "In our own State," Glen exclaimed, pausing a moment to let the significance of his words sink home, "the conditions are even worse, the deaths exceeding the births by ten and four-tenths among each thousand native-born Americans. The families of foreign parentage, on the contrary, show an excess of births over deaths of fifty-eight and a half, while in the old Bay State the excess is almost as great -forty-five and six-tenths. In short, In short, the last census shows that in many localities the number of native-born Americans is either standing still or actually decreasing, while the people whose parents are foreigners are increasing tremendously. "And yet," Glen continued, raising his finger at the red-faced Speaker in the chair, "we go on playing politics for petty, transient gain and give no heed to the trend of these momentous events, which, if unchecked, as surely sp the extermination of the old stock American and his free institutions and conquest of our Country as the unchecked coming of the AngloSaxon to these shores spelt the elimina tion of the American Indian and the conquest by numbers of his once proud domains. If, Sir," he exclaimed, "we of the lineage of Washington, of Stark, of Sullivan and Lafayette, are prepared to follow the Indian into virtual bondage and ultimate extinction, then, Sir, we can in no wise hasten the day more surely than by putting into control those who have no heed for the future of the country, but who content their small souls with gratifying their selfish lusts while the ship of State holds her wayward course toIward the ominous clouds on the rockfretted near horizon." Amid the burst of spontaneous applause, in which even some of the administrative members were compelled by the tense excitement to join, a uniformed messenger sped down the aisle and handed a yellow envelope to one of the group which sat closely round Glen's towering young form, on chairs and the nearby desks of other members.. At a nod from Glen he opened the telegram and, hastily reading the contents, his face grew grave and reddened. "Impossible to reach Judge before night," he read in a whisper, over Glen's shoulder. "Last train fivethirty. Let damn rascals hang themselves; outraged people will attend obsequies. Back on special. Terrill." Glen made no move or sound to indicate the depths of his disappointment. Just pausing sufficiently long to gain a full knowledge of the message, he went on, in a lowered tone, still addressing the Speaker: "And so, Sir, with a firm conviction that my act is right, I adhere to what Copyright, 1908, by Winslow Hall. All rights reserved. |