| It is a curious and interesting feature of the recent resurrection of the Napoleon legend, that it occurs exactly one hundred years after his first definite appearance on the stage of Europe. In 1794, the streets of Paris were streaming with innocent blood, the Directory was tottering, Toulon had just fallen, and "times were ripe for Napoleon." In 1894, the streets of Paris are again streaming, but this time it is with studies, statues, and stories of Napoleon; the art shops are filling with his medallions and pictures, and again, after the |
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lapse of a century, times are ripe for Napoleon. This revival of interest in Napoleonic matters is not only befitting to the memory of a statesman whose tremendous achievements deserve such recognition, but it is particularly opportune, for it will bring greater acknowledgment of the accomplishment of real, lasting improvement in Europe to a man, who was so blinding in his personal life that his friends could not see his faults, nor his enemies his virtues. His cruel career, his excessively immoral life, and his unreliable oaths and actions have |
