“At the age of twenty-six Buonaparte assumed the command of the army of Italy! ‘You are too young,’ said one of the directors, who hesitated about his appointment as general. ‘In a year,’ replied Napoleon, ‘I shall be either old or dead.’”
“He seems to have had a great deal of spirit.”
“‘Soldiers!’ said he, to the army under his command, ‘you are hungry and naked: the Republic owes you much, but she has not the means to pay her debts: I am come to lead you into the most fertile plains that the sun beholds. Rich provinces, opulent towns, all shall be at your disposal. Soldiers! with such a prospect before you, can you fail in courage and constancy?’ This was the first address he made to his army, and it ran like lightning from rank to rank. The men, who before were downhearted, became animated with hope and confidence, and the most distinguished officers of France, from that moment, determined to follow their youthful leader, as one who would assuredly lead them to victory and renown. Massena, Joubert, Augereau, Serrurier, and Lannes, were among them; though their well-tried courage and experience might have justified them in seeking the supreme command, yet they cheerfully followed one whom they were fully convinced, would be successful in his daring enterprise.”
“He was just the man for the French, then, for he knew how to call up their courage. But six-and-twenty must have been a young age for a general?”
“When Buonaparte was in his prosperity he employed, it is said, the same trades-people who supplied him in his former days. A silversmith, who had given him credit, when he set out for Italy, for a dressing-case, worth fifty pounds, was rewarded with all the business which his recommendations could bring to him; and being clever in his trade, he became, under the patronage of the emperor, one of the wealthiest citizens of Paris. A little hatter, and a cobler, who had served Buonaparte when a subaltern, might have risen in the same manner, had their skill equalled that of the silversmith. Napoleon’s example, however, could not persuade the good people of Paris to wear ill-shaped hats and clumsy boots; but he, in his own person, adhered to the last to his original connexion with these poor trades-people.”
“That is very much to his credit, whatever might be his faults.”
“It is, and we should act honestly when speaking of the character of an enemy. The British army and navy have furnished instances of this kind. Courage and fidelity frequently go together, so that the soldier or sailor, who is the first to face the cannon’s mouth, is often the last to turn his back on a friend. Buonaparte, once apprehensive that his generals were on the point of breaking into open mutiny, threw himself suddenly among them, and addressing the tallest of them in a threatening vehement tone, said, ‘You have been talking sedition: take care lest I fulfil my duty: your five feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot within two hours.’”
“That was enough to make the general that he spoke to tremble.”
“One of the blackest stains on the reputation of Buonaparte, is the massacre at Jaffa. Twelve hundred, some say nearly three thousand Turks, a part of the garrison of the place, surrendered. These were marched to some sand-hills, at a little distance from the town, and there, being divided into small parties, every man was shot or bayonetted. Not all the waters of the green ocean would ever wash that dark blot from Napoleon’s brow.”
“Shocking! shocking! That is a black mark on his brow indeed. There are quite enough soldiers fall in battle, but to shoot men when the battle is over is dreadful.”