The vivid pictures of war, however ensanguined, have a wonderful
attraction for the mass of men. They stir the heart like a trumpet. No
narratives are so generally perused with avidity as those of “feats of
broils and battles;” for in them, in spite of many disgusting features,
there is always something to excite a pleasing thrill. We love
excitement, and it seems that it is to war, and the descriptions of its
varied scenes of danger, during which the faculties of the combatants
are roused to extraordinary strength, that most look for the
gratification of their natural desires. We have heard of many persons
who, in the abstract, condemn all wars as brutal and degrading to
humanity, peruse, with unwearied attention, narratives of the campaigns
of great generals, and dwell upon their details with evident
manifestations of delight. The passion is irresistible.
In this work, the author has endeavored to present to the mental eye,
more vividly than the so-termed dignity of ordinary history permits, the
most striking scenes and remarkable personages of Napoleon’s astonishing
career of glory—to show the greatest warrior of any age in the field,
and at the nightly bivouacs—upon the fertile plains of Piedmont—in the
shadow of the Egyptian pyramids—amid the forests of Germany, and on the
frozen plains of Russia—surrounded by his galaxy of splendid generals,
his military family—to illustrate a passage in the history of Europe,
which, for stirring scenes and powerful characters, has, perhaps, no
parallel. From the camp-fire at Toulon, where the young lieutenant of
artillery gave the first impression of his wonderful genius, till the
terrible night of darkness and death following the battle of Waterloo,
the career of Napoleon is traced by his bivouacs; and around each
watch-fire is grouped the incidents of the conflicts which there
occurred. The salient points in the life of the great warrior are,
therefore, illumined, so as to fix them in the memory.
Who can know the incidents of that career of glory without astonishment?
We find a genius, under the smile of fortune, rising from the ranks of
the people to the summit of despotic power—surpassing the generalship of
Hannibal—the statesmanship of Cæsar, and performing exploits, which,
before his time, were placed among the impossible. There is imperishable
interest attached to every event in the life of such a character; and,
therefore, no work which honestly aims to illustrate them can be
considered superfluous.
It is hoped that the numerous engravings will add to the attractions of
the book, and render its word-pictures clearer and more perfect to the
mind. Their value is so well established, that the time is approaching
when few historical works will be published without such illustrations.
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