We shall not further pursue these selections. Our object, in producing them, has been merely to show the extent to which the Editor has allowed his feelings to operate against Napoleon.

The matters which we shall now proceed to lay before our readers, would, we are confident, afford, to the unprejudiced mind, fresh proof, if fresh proof were requisite, of this fact; but we were anxious to devote a few lines to this subject solely, and we flatter ourselves that, in this preparatory portion of our Inquiry, we have not unnecessarily allowed our ideas to wander. There are two ways of relating the same tale; and, although the practice of holding up, in all cases, the conduct of the wicked, the profligate, the cruel, and the tyrannical, to merited infamy, by teaching men in power that they can have no hope of escaping the tribunal of history, even if they should succeed in silencing their contemporaries, is one of those safeguards of society, which he who has most reflected on the motives of human action will be least, willing to renounce, yet it is proper that the public should themselves be placed in a situation to judge whether the Editor of the New Times has succeeded in putting this golden rule into practice; and the detractor of Napoleon's reputation, whether he has, on all occasions, himself invariably evinced that strict and undeviating

adherence unto those great principles of truth, moderation, and justice, which he so loudly calls for, and so sternly expects to find exemplified, in the conduct of other men.

AN INQUIRY,

&c. &c.

CHAP. I.

BIRTHPLACE OF NAPOLEON.

"Is it possible that a being made up of selfish vanity can have been a benefactor of his country, or of the human race. As a Corsican, Napoleon Buonaparte could have little of patriotic attachment to France ?"-New Times, Sept. 1822.

WHETHER Napoleon was a benefactor either to his country or to the human race depends upon his actions; and the relation of his actions lies before the public. Whether a being, both selfish and vain, can be a benefactor either to his country or to society at large, must and ever will remain a matter of opinion: for our own parts, we make choice of the affirmative, since it has often been our lot to witness wise men committing arrant follies*, and very foolish men occasionally follow

* Let no one tax his brother with exclusive vanity. We make the following extract from the New Times of 20th of

B

ing the path of wisdom; but on this head we will not quarrel with the Editor of the New Times. We proceed rather to the graver accusation-Napoleon was a Corsican: aye there's the rub! and, because a Corsican, he could have had no patriotic attachment to France: the corollary is not of the best,-let us examine it. Napoleon was born in Corsica, at a period when Corsica was a French possession (1769); from his birth he was patronised by a French general, M. de Marbœuf; his education was commenced in France, in his tenth year, and in France it was completed; at an early period (1785), he entered into the French army; he rose to rank in the French army; he first felt the giddy delusions of fame from his conduct in the French army*; he married Sept. 1822: -"The Edinburgh Review is no more the same book which the public has been accustomed to admire, it is no more the production of the same minds which have long exercised so powerful an influence over English literature, than the Old Times is now what it was in 1814 and 1815:" that is, when the present editor of the New Times was editor of the Old Times.

*At the military school of Brienne, where Napoleon was brought up, an annual account was transmitted to the government of the character and progress in the sciences of the students. Napoleon was pointed out by his masters as of a singular disposition, well versed in mathematics and worthy of promotion.

At the siege of Toulon, where Napoleon distinguished himself, he was strongly recommended for promotion to the Com+

a French woman; his brothers and sisters chose France for their country; his abilities and his good fortune first made him Consul of France (1799), and then Emperor of France (1804); all his pleasures and all his troubles had France for their centre; from the cradle to the school-boy, from the school-boy to the ensign, from the ensign to the general, from the general to the consul, from the consul to the monarch, France claimed and possessed his undivided thoughts: and yet, in despite of these adamantine chains, the Editor would fain persuade us Napoleon's heart was closed to France, and hermetically shut, for no other cause than that his mother happened to bring him forth in a French possession, in lieu of a hundred and sixty miles to its north! Can a more absurd conclusion be drawn?

In one of the essays with which the Editor has lately favoured us respecting Napoleon, he has seized the opportunity to inquire, what is our country? The query would probably be answered differently by as many persons as could be found willing to solve the enigma. Louis the Fourteenth used to pronounce" I am the

mittee of Public Safety, by General Dugommier, who, in speaking of Napoleon, expressed himself as follows:-"Recompense and promote this young officer, for, if you are ungrateful towards him, he will advance without your aid."Memoirs of Napoleon (Montholon), vol. 3, p. 15.