boy not only read greedily of Caesar and Alexander and other great
conquerors of the past--he drew pictures on the walls, of regiments of
soldiers, which in fancy he commanded.
His brother Joseph would jeer, and then there was more trouble. Joseph
generally got the worst of it both bodily and mentally. No sooner was
the fight over, than the conqueror made good his vantage.
"I went to complain before he had time to recover from his confusion.
I had need to be on the alert. Our mother would have repressed my
warlike humor, she would not have put up with my caprices. Her
tenderness was allied with severity. She punished, rewarded all alike;
the good, the bad, nothing escaped her. My father, a man of sense, but
too fond of pleasure to pay much attention to our infancy, sometimes
attempted to excuse our faults. 'Let them alone,' she replied; 'it is
not your business, it is I who must look after them.'"
The father, a man of happy-go-lucky disposition, would shrug his
shoulders and laugh. But when it came to choosing a profession for the
two boys, he did not hesitate. Joseph, the brow-beaten, should become
a priest, he said, while Napoleon must study soldiering--which decision
suited at least one of the boys to a T.
Napoleon was only nine years old when this decision was made, but very
precocious. He talked and reasoned like a boy five years older. His
unruly disposition probably hastened the choice as well. His parents
felt that a school where there was stern discipline would be the best
thing for him. Accordingly his father obtained for him an appointment
to one of the royal military schools; and on April 23, 1779, he was
formally enrolled at Brienne, France, as a student. The die was cast.
He was to become a soldier.
The next five years, however, were by no means a joyous period in his
life. In the first months he felt like "a fish out of water"; nor did
he try very hard to adapt himself to his environment. It was all
frightfully strange and different. From the sunny island in the
Mediterranean he found himself transported suddenly to the northern
gloom of the Champagne region. The very language was different. He
must unlearn Italian, and learn French. It always came hard to him.
To the end of his days he never could spell correctly--although he did
learn in time to express himself with clarity and precision.
He found himself, also, thrown into contact with a group of youngsters
who were by no means disposed to put up with his overbearing ways.
Many of them were the sons of wealthy parents, while he at times was in
straitened circumstances. They were fastidious in dress, while he had
inclined to the slovenly. Small wonder that they derided him, or that
he withdrew within the shell of his pride--and stayed there. He had no
intimates. One schoolmate who perhaps came nearest to making a friend
of this stand-offish chap from the South, and who was to enjoy a large
measure of his confidence in after life was Bourrienne. The latter
wrote his famous "Memoirs of Napoleon," which give us many interesting
personal glimpses. Here is one of the earliest:
"At Brienne, Bonaparte was remarkable for the dark color of his
complexion, which the climate of France afterwards very much changed,
as well as for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style
of his conversation, both with his masters and companions. His
conversation almost always gave one the idea of ill-humor, and he was
certainly not very sociable. This, I think, may be attributed to the
misfortunes of his family during his childhood, and the impressions
made on his mind by the subjugation of his country."
It is interesting to note that at this time the boy was still far from
reconciled to the idea of being French. He resented the fact that his
father's sword, at one time, had helped to further the conquest of
Corsica by France. It was to this fact, indeed, that Napoleon himself
owed his appointment to this military college. But the boy does not
let this consideration sway him. "I hope some time to be in a position
to restore her freedom to Corsica!" he exclaimed.
Napoleon's isolation from his fellow cadets was not entirely to his
disadvantage. Brienne possessed a good library, and here day after day
the boy might be found poring over the stories of great exploits of the
past, and dreaming his own day dreams. But his sword was not for
France. He pictured himself as her conqueror! One of his favorite
books was Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Men." He devoured the
"Iliad" and the "Odyssey" whole. "With my sword by my side, and Homer
in my pocket, I hope to carve my way through the world," he wrote to
his mother. Another well-thumbed volume was Caesar's "Gallic Wars."
We read of more than one instance of ill-will showing between Napoleon
and a clique of aristocratic classmates. But we do not find that he
was ever afraid of them or that he ever acted the sneak or the coward.
Morose he often was, and sullen, but it seemed born of the spirit of
misunderstanding which still lurked within his breast, against the
world at large. He had simply not found himself.
One anecdote related of these school days reveals him as the potential
leader, and shows that the other boys, despite their ridicule,
recognized his ability. During one unusually severe winter a heavy
fall of snow visited the school. Napoleon suggested that they build a
fort, and drew up plans for a complete series of fortifications. The
others fell in with his scheme, and upon its completion a battle royal
ensued which lasted for several days and put more than one of the
participants into the hospital for repairs. In charge of one of the
two armies, now attacking the fort, and now playing the part of its
defenders, was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was in his element at last.
By the time that he had completed his five years at Brienne, he was
made commander of a company of cadets. His first official report card
is worth reproducing:
"_School of Brienne_: State of the King's scholars eligible from their
age to enter into the service or to pass to the school at Paris; to
wit, M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon) born the 15th August, 1769, in height
4 feet, 10 inches, 10 lines, has finished his fourth season; of good
constitution, health excellent; character submissive, honest and
grateful; conduct very regular; has always distinguished himself by his
application to mathematics; understands history and geography tolerably
well; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies and in
Latin, in which he has only finished his fourth course; would make an
excellent sailor; deserves to be passed on to the school at Paris."
Two points are especially interesting in this report--the first that
Napoleon had a "submissive character"; the second that he would make
"an excellent sailor." The following year when another inspector
visited the school, he added a note that was more accurate. "Character
masterful, impetuous and headstrong"; and he decided that Napoleon
should enter the Military School at Paris.
Accordingly, in the Fall of 1784, he bade Brienne farewell without
regrets on either side, and turned his face toward the capital. No one
seeing this slender, almost dwarfed, figure with the thin face, high
cheekbones and sunken, inquiring eyes, would ever have imagined that
Paris was welcoming her future lord. History holds strange secrets
within her pages.
At the Military School, he chose the artillery as his particular branch
of service. To what good use he put his study of the field guns, we
find evidence in his first appearance on the field of actual warfare.
At the outset he made few friends; it seemed to be the bitter
experience of Brienne all over again. The trouble was that he was one
of the students being educated at the State's expense--a perfectly
proper system, which we ourselves follow at West Point and Annapolis.
But many of these French students came of wealthy families and, like
young prigs, looked down upon the King's scholars as "charity
patients." Napoleon justly resented this; and even went so far as to
indite a memorial against this condition of affairs at Brienne--which
did not tend to enhance his popularity.
However he did begin to find himself in a social way. With maturer
years and a broader outlook he began to emerge from his shell. He made
a few good friends, one or two being among the gentler sex. One lady
in particular, Madame de Colombier, took a fancy to this gawky country
lad and frequently invited him to her home in the country. Her
daughter, Caroline, was also a welcome friend, and the memory of those
simple but pleasant hours remained with him all his life as a ray of
sunshine among the all-too-gloomy days of youth.
"We were the most innocent creatures imaginable," he says. "We
contrived little meetings together. I well remember one which took
place on a midsummer morning, just as daylight was beginning to dawn.
It will scarcely be believed that all our happiness consisted in eating
cherries together."
The young artillery student--now a lieutenant--also visited the
Permons; and Madame Junot, then a little girl, gives a clever cartoon
of him as he appeared in full regimentals at the age of sixteen.
"There was one part of his dress which had a very droll
appearance--that was his boots. They were so high and wide that his
thin little legs seemed buried in their amplitude. Young people are
always ready to observe anything ridiculous, and as soon as my sister
and I saw Napoleon enter the drawing-room, we burst into a loud fit of
laughter. Bonaparte could not relish a joke; and when he found himself
the object of merriment he grew angry. My sister, who was some years
older than I, told him that since he wore a sword he ought to be
gallant to ladies, and, instead of being angry, should be happy that
they joked with him.
"'You are nothing but a child, a little school-girl,' said Napoleon, in
a tone of contempt.
"Cecile, who was twelve or thirteen years of age, was highly indignant
at being called a child, and she hastily resented the affront by
replying to Bonaparte, 'And you are nothing but a Puss in Boots!'"
Napoleon at this time was hard put to it to keep up appearances as an
officer, on his slender income. His father had passed away, and he
could not expect further help from home. He was now his mother's
oldest adviser, and we find him writing her sage letters which sound
like a man of forty. Indeed, his brain matured early. At fourteen he
wrote and spoke like a man.
He was subject to fits of depression and melancholy, and even thoughts
of suicide--but these, fortunately, were passing whims, and gradually
the resolute nature he was to evince in later years began to assert
itself. A favorite motto with him, as a man, was: "The truest wisdom
is a resolute determination," and already he was putting it into
practice.
Soon after obtaining his commission, he left school on his first
assignment of active duty. Some riots had broken out at Lyons, and his
regiment of artillery was sent there. But things speedily quieted
down, leaving to him the monotony of garrison life. In telling about
it afterward he remarked:
"When I entered the service I found garrison life tedious. I began
reading novels, and that kind of reading proved interesting. I made an
attempt at writing some; this task gave range to my imagination. It
took hold of my knowledge of positive facts, and often I found
amusement in giving myself up to dreams in order to test them later by
the standard of my reasoning powers. I transported myself in thought
to an ideal world, and I sought to discover wherein lay the precise
difference between that and the world in which I lived."
Thus we see in the young soldier the same recluse and dreamer of
Brienne. In boyhood parlance today, he "flocked by himself," building
air castles which in part were to become reality.
As for his early attempts at authorship, he tried his hand with
indifferent success at fiction, essays, and history, but it is said
that he destroyed all this work, with the exception of a fragment,
"Letters on the History of Corsica," which was to have told the story
of his beloved island.
He returned home on a visit not long after, to help his mother settle
up the family estate. Her means were very meagre, and her family
unusually large. In addition, his father's affairs had become
involved. He had been advanced some money by the French Government to
plant mulberry trees, in connection with the silk-worm industry, and a
part of this advance was as yet unpaid.
On the score of ill health Napoleon prolonged his stay at Ajaccio for
some months, and did not rejoin his regiment until the spring of 1788.
He stayed on the island to aid the family from his own pay, and to get
a further advance on the mulberry grove; and also as a means of getting
away from other people. He was a pronounced recluse, indulging in long
rambles over the island, and finding his sole pleasure in authorship.
Upon the very threshold of his public career, he still appeared as the
most unlikely object upon which Fortune would bestow her favor.
And as if there were not barriers enough to his success, he was still
an alien in heart, from France. He wore her uniform and served under
her flag, but he was Corsican through and through--still resenting with
a Southern impetuosity the means by which the French had conquered
Corsica.
But unknown to him and many a wiser head, the hour of destiny was at
hand. The dark days of the French Revolution were rapidly approaching,
when it seemed as if the whole world would be engulfed in disaster.
With the fateful year of 1789, the hour struck--and Napoleon was then
just twenty years of age.
On the first echoes of Revolution which reached Corsica, Napoleon was
on the alert. He thought he saw a golden opportunity to throw off the
shackles of the conqueror. But one of the first acts of the National
Assembly was to recognize the full rights of the island as a part of
the State of France; and Napoleon, who had already made an attempt to
organize a sort of Home Guard, felt himself disarmed.
"France has opened her bosom to us," he said. "Henceforth we have the
same interests and the same solicitudes. It is the sea alone which
separates us."
With but one lapse, he became a loyal son of France henceforth. The
Assembly, builded stronger than it knew, when it recognized Corsica!
After the first mutterings of revolt France became comparatively quiet
for nearly two years. Napoleon joined his regiment in 1791, and was
promoted to first lieutenant, in the Fourth Artillery, stationed at
Valence. It was at this time that the ill-starred king, Louis XVI,
tried to flee from the country, but was seized and held a prisoner.
The National Assembly was in complete control, and Bonaparte with other
officers of the army subscribed to a new oath of allegiance.
It was by no means a compulsory act on his part, but in tune with his
own active, impetuous spirit. He became secretary of a club called the
"Friends of the Constitution," and composed an Address to the National
Assembly.
At the same time occurred an episode which reveals the duplicity of his
nature--for Napoleon could be unscrupulous when he had his own ends to
serve. Taking advantage of the general state of turmoil he obtained
another leave of absence, and returned to Corsica. There, although
wearing the French uniform, he again fomented trouble against the
authorities. He organized a company of Corsican Volunteers, with which
he was to make a bold stroke for liberty. But the movement failed
ingloriously, and ended only by getting him into disrepute with both
his Government and his neighbors. He saw that his future safety and
career lay with the army, so he deserted the popular cause. The
Corsicans were so incensed that they declared him an outlaw and his
family infamous. In June, 1793, the Bonapartes removed from the
island; and only a few short years found him its conqueror in the name
of France. The last spark of his Corsican spirit was extinguished.
Only the outbreak of a war with Austria prevented the court-martial
which the recreant officer deserved. Instead, such was France's need
of trained men, that after a brief interval he was actually promoted to
a captaincy. As he himself said: "The beginning of a revolution was a
fine time for an enterprising young man!"
His first actual taste of warfare occurred at Toulon, where his
regiment was now stationed. Many of the inhabitants of this Southern
port were royalists, and they sought to hold the city for the King.
The republican troops were ordered to capture the town, which they did
after a lively siege and assault. The commander of artillery having
been wounded, Napoleon was ordered to take his place. His skill,
coolness, and bravery during this engagement are well attested. A
soldier serving a gun near him was killed. At once Napoleon took his
place at the gun, and served until relieved.
Aiding the royalists in the harbor was a fleet of ships under the
English and Spanish; and here it was that Napoleon was to strike his
first blow at his life-long antagonist, England. He submitted a plan
for the bombardment of the fleet, and the capture of a fort which they
had heavily fortified on shore, called, from its strength, "the little
Gibraltar." As a result of a spirited attack at dawn, the shore
batteries capitulated, and a few hours later the foreign ships sailed
away in haste.
Napoleon's superior officer, Dugommier complimented him highly for his
share in the attack, and mentioned him in the official dispatches to
this effect: "Among those who distinguished themselves most, and who
most aided me to rally the troops and push them forward, are citizens
Buonaparte, commanding the artillery, Arena and Cerconi,
Adjutants-General."
As a direct result of this first taste of battle, he became, in
February, 1794, a General of Brigade, with charge of the artillery and
stores of the "Army of Italy," as the southern expeditionary forces
were called. But his feet were by no means firmly fixed on the ladder
of fortune. These were the days of the Reign of Terror when no man's
life or liberty was assured. At one time, Napoleon was deprived of his
command, and was in imminent danger of losing his head. He had
incurred the suspicion of the Tribunal, as had many another
unfortunate; but he was finally pardoned, not because of any sentiment
or justice, but because of the "advantages which might be derived from
his military information and knowledge of localities, for the service
of the Republic."
In the swift turn of events, it was not many months before this pardon
of convenience was actually turned to the advantage of the
Tribunal--and of Napoleon himself. A rival government called the
Central Committee was set up, and the streets of Paris were in uproar.
Something had to be done, and done quickly. Revolutions rise or fall
overnight. The command of Republican troops was entrusted to Paul
Barras, and one of his staff officers was Napoleon Bonaparte. Barras
had the foresight to bring up as much artillery as possible, as his men
were few. Napoleon saw that these guns were placed so as to enfilade
the principal streets. His experience at Toulon, as well as his
natural genius for strategy, stood him in good stead. The "whiff of
grape-shot" which he fired on that October day, in 1795, cleared the
streets of the opposition--and likewise cleared the pathway for him
leading eventually to a throne.
The whole world knows of the later deeds of this slim figure who thus
steps masterfully forward to the center of the most troubled stage in
Europe. Days of conflict and turmoil were yet to follow for Napoleon,
but never days of uncertainty. He had found himself. In six short
years the brooding misanthrope, the gawky young man who shunned his
fellows, became the self-possessed leader of men, wielding a power of
personal magnetism that was almost uncanny.
At twenty-six his larger career may be said to have begun. This slight
boyish figure takes command of the Army of Italy and leads that
memorable campaign to the conquest of Italy before he was thirty.
Promptly nicknamed "The Little Corporal" by his army, the term was
speedily turned from one of derision to positive affection. Napoleon
himself accepted it as a compliment. He learned to understand his men,
to fraternize with them, to bring out the best that was in them.
This was one of the chief secrets of his marvellous career. He was an
able strategist, a skilled diplomatist, a man of vision and cunning.
But despite all these and other high qualities, he would have fallen
short of success if he had not possessed his ability to read and to
sway the hearts of men. Whence came this power to one who had been a
lonely and derided boy? It was as though a magician's wand had touched
him overnight.
We have space to give only one picture from the crowded panorama of
this world-conqueror, emperor, and exile. It will serve to show the
powerful magnetism of his personality--perhaps serve to explain in some
slight degree the magic of the mere name of Napoleon, throughout the
ranks of his armies.
Napoleon the mighty had fallen. He had been sent into exile on the
Isle of Elba, but had escaped, and now with a little army of a thousand
men was marching boldly north to reconquer France. The news spread
rapidly, and the King now on the throne sent Marshal Ney, a former
General under Napoleon, to capture him. Ney promised his King to bring
the fallen leader bound into his presence, and, determined to make his
promise good, set forth on the road to Marseilles.
It was a gray day in early Spring. The sky looked forbidding, and a
chill of winter was in the air. As the King's army moved forward they
descried in the distance a smaller band approaching. At its head rode
a familiar figure, the Little Corporal, with shoulders stooped, as
though bending toward his horse's mane. He gave no orders to his men
who marched forward uncertainly. As the distance narrowed down to a
matter of yards, Napoleon seemed for the first time to note the
presence of the opposing troops. He saw at a glance that many of the
men now confronting him had formerly followed him.
Dismounting, he walked rapidly toward them, tore open his great coat,
and offered his breast to their rifles.
"Who among you would fire upon his Emperor?" he cried.
Instantly the army, officers and men, lowered their weapons and tossed
their caps high in air.
"Vive l'Empereur!" they shouted; and placing him at their head, they
turned and marched back upon Paris.
IMPORTANT DATES IN NAPOLEON'S LIFE
1769. August 15. Napoleon Bonaparte born.
1779. Entered school at Brienne.
1784. Entered military school at Paris.
1786. Became junior lieutenant.
1791. Made lieutenant.
1792. Made captain.
1794. Made general of brigade for services against English
at Toulon.
1795. Cleared the streets of Paris with his artillery, and was
appointed to command of Army of Italy.
1796. Married Josephine de Beauharnais.
1797. Completed conquest of Italy.
1798. Egyptian campaign.
1799. Made First Consul of France.
1804. Crowned Emperor.
1807. Won Battle of Austerlitz.
1813. Russian campaign.
1814. Abdicated the throne, and was sent to Elba.
1815. Returned to France.
1815. Defeated at Waterloo, and sent to St. Helena.
1821. May 5. Died at St. Helena.
WELLINGTON
THE IRON DUKE
Of all the curious parallels of history, none is stranger than that of
Napoleon and Wellington, who were to meet as rivals on the fatal field
of Waterloo.
They were born in the same year, 1769, and in each case the exact date
is somewhat uncertain. Wellington in later life always celebrated the
first of May, but was not sure that it was his rightful birthday. Both
were born upon islands--the one in Corsica, the other in Ireland--which
islands, by the way, were constantly striving to achieve their
independence.
Both were born into large families. Napoleon was a fourth child and
Wellington a fourth son. The father of each is described as an
easy-going, indulgent man, without force of character, while the mother
was the moving genius of the family. But between Napoleon and his
mother existed a lively affection; while Wellington's mother never
seemed to care for this child, and constantly spoke of him in terms of
reproach.