The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)

Produced by Paul Murray, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED, PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO
Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only true philosophy. — Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of Rome .
LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1910
POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED First Published, December 1901. Second Edition, revised, March 1902. Third Edition, revised, January 1903. Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907. Reprinted, January 1910.
CROWN 8VO EDITION First Published, September 1904. Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.
An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world a new Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I have sought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light of facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuable materials that have recently been published by continental historians. To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an elaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my space absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the most important topics.
To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chief importance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, and Vandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrück, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken, and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy. I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs or collections of documents due to the labours of the Société d'Histoire Contemporaine, the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier, Caudrillier, Capitaine J.G., Lévy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy, and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing, Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of the recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are not devoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used with caution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Léon Lecestre and M. Léonce de Brotonne have also opened up fresh vistas into the life of the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safely revise our judgments on many of its episodes.