Napoleonic Literature
A Short History of Napoleon the First
Preface
To write a life of Napoleon which shall be positively
short is not possible. When I undertook to write one in twelve pages of
the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica,’ I thought I was attempting what was difficult;
but I was mistaken; I was attempting what was impossible. I take this opportunity
of acknowledging the liberality of Messrs. Black, who, in compliance with
my wishes, and I believe, at considerable inconvenience to the arrangements
of the Encyclopaedia, actually allowed me thirty six pages, or not less
than three times the space allotted for the article. The same publishers
now place me under another obligation in consenting to smooth my way to
the present ‘Short History,’ in which the substance of that article is
incorporated.
The Life of Napoleon now given to the public is,
if not absolutely short, yet, measured by the space allotted in it to each
incident, almost as short as the obituary notice of a newspaper. It dismisses
more than one great campaign with a sentence, more than one famous battle
with a line. In the Encyclopaedia this was unavoidable, but the reader
may ask whether there can be any justification for issuing as a book a
summary which must needs, he may think, be as jejune as a table of contents.
I admit at once that for some purposes this Short
History of Napoleon must be wholly useless, but I flatter myself that for
other purposes it may well be all the more satisfactory for being so exceedingly
brief. A bewilderment caused by the multitude of facts and details is the
danger which chiefly besets the reader of history; and where, as in Napoleon’s
career, facts are unusually crowded together, the danger is greatest, the
bewilderment most overwhelming. I have held it possible to meet this difficulty
by almost suppressing details, and thus diminishing to the utmost the demand
made upon the attention and memory, but at the same time to atone for what
is lost in colouring and light and shadow by clearness of outline.
Nothing certainly could be more lifeless than a
mere chronological catalogue of Napoleon’s achievements; but I thought
that a narrative almost as brief as a catalogue would not be uninteresting,
and still be useless, if it successfully brought together cause and effect,
traced development clearly, and showed convincingly the influence of the
age upon the man, and of the man upon his age.
I have therefore subordinated clearness and unity,
and there are some aspects of the life which, to gain room, I have consciously
omitted altogether. For instance, no attempt is made here either to describe
or to estimate Napoleon as a military commander. I do not write a soldier’s
history of him, and accordingly, though I endeavour to give the strategical
outline of each campaign correctly, the battles will be found to be not
only not described, but not even narrated; they are merely registered.
Again, I refrain almost entirely from drawing upon the fund of private,
personal, or domestic detail and anecdote, though it is upon matter of
this kind that a biography commonly depends for its vividness. The Duchess
of Abrantes, Bourienne, Mme. De Remusat, and many more similar writers
less well known, stood ready to supply such matter in no small quantity;
but I wished my narrative to be clear and short, and comparatively I cared
little that it should be vivid.
I thought such a plan feasible, but I did not flatter
myself that it would be easy. It is particularly difficult to gain a comprehensive
view of those historical persons who have an international position. Napoleon
is a leading figure in the domestic history of every great Continental
state, and the greatest foreign enemy in the history of England, yet most
of his historians have regarded him almost exclusively form the point of
view of a single state. They have written as Frenchmen, or as Englishmen,
not only with limited sympathies, but actually for the most part with most
imperfect knowledge.
Such an outline as I mentioned, at once short and
trustworthy, could not be produced by mere compilation from ordinary authors,
or by hasty investigations. I must ask the reader to believe that I have
not studied Napoleon’s life in order to write this little book, but that
I write this book because I have for years studied the Napoleonic age form
many points of view, and in many countries. I need not ask him to take
this entirely on credit. I have shown in my ‘ Life and Times of Stein’
(1879), that I have investigated thoroughly the revolutions produced by
the Napoleonic wars in Germany. From my ‘Expression of England’ (1883),
he may satisfy himself that I have reflected on the relations of France
and England in the Napoleonic age, and on the gradual growth throughout
the eighteenth century of that quarrel between two nations which reached
such a height under Napoleon. But since the publication of this book and
during composition of this, I have pursued those inquiries further, being
engaged upon a ‘History of English Foreign Policy during the Eighteenth
Century.’ And I draw my information at first from the manuscript despatches
preserved at the Record Office. As to the French aspect of the subject,
I have endeavoured here too to rest as much as possible upon documents.
My chief study has lain, not in Thiers or Lanfrey, but in the Napoleonic
Correspondence. I may add that my view of the connexion of Napoleon with
the Revolution and of the development of the Napoleonic out of the Revolutionary
age, is the result of much study of the latter as well as of the former.
Beside original documents I have of course studied the works founded
on original documents which have appeared of late years. Among the recently
opened sources to which this volume is indebted, I would mention particularly,
on the earlier period. Jung’s works; on the period of the Directory, Huffer’s,
the later volumes of Von Sybel, and the study on the Egyptian expedition
by Count Boulay de la Meurthe; on the German wars, the genuine memoirs
of Hardenburg, edited by Ranke, and Ranke’s biography of him, Oncken on
the ‘War of Liberation,’ and a long list of books already used by me in
the ‘Life and Times of Stein.’ But some important works have appeared since
that publication, especially the second volume of Oncken, and Treitschke’s
history; I may also mention the original researches which are now being
made by A.Stern.
Almost one third of this volume is occupied by an
essay on Napoleon, which is entirely new. It is designed to correspond
with the History to which it is appended and makes use of no materials
but such as are furnished by the History. It could not therefore attempt
either to analyse his character or estimate his genius. The question it
deals with is rather his relation to his age, his place in the history
of France and of Europe, and even to question — I need hardly say — it
offers only suggestions. It is only an essay; it is not a treatise.
Our portrait is from an engraving after a picture
by Boilly, which represents Napoleon as First Consul, and bears date 29
Thermidor, an X. It was executed in mezzotint, and several impressions
of it, all alike coloured by hand (it is doubtful whether any uncoloured
impressions were published), are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale
at Paris. We give the head; but in the original, which is on a considerably
larger scale than our copy, the portrait is enclosed in an oval frame,
below which is engraved a review in the Place du Carrousel, with the inscription
‘Revue du Quintidi.’
The cast of the face of Napoleon was taken in wax
on the morning after his death. It was brought to England in 1855, and
was excellently engraved in the ‘Illustrated London News.’ We are indebted
to the proprietor for permission to reproduce the woodcuts.
(If you
surfed directly to this page, please go to the Napoleonic Literature Home
Page to see the wealth of information that's available on this website.)