PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. IT has been well and truly observed, that he who would write the history of Napoleon Bonaparte ought to be at once a Tacitus and a Suetonius; for, without the united quali fications of both these historians, a complete portrait and character of one of the most wonderful men that it has ever fallen to the lot of history to celebrate, can never be expected. Born to command mankind, he possessed every qualification for furthering and realizing his ambitious dreams. His genius was of the eagle kind-proved by the towering height of human glory to which he ascended-the self-possession which he displayed during his meteor-like ascent, the humble level from which he darted, and the presence of mind, or rather perfect ease, which he displayed when he alighted on that narrow and giddy summit. With a capacity for government of the highest order; with a command over the vast resources of the empire which he had formed, greater than sovereign ever poswith an activity that never re sessed; 23x182 |