NAPOLEON'S BOOKS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2944, 2 December 1916, Page 9

NAPOLEON'S BOOKS

■ ; ♦— „- THE.LIBRARY AT ELBA

POLICY AND WAR

Mr.'.'Herbert 'Vivian, .who has been examining the books in Napoleon's library at Elba, has sent us ;sonio striking and timely extracts marked in pencil by the Emperor from the book which appears to havQ attracted him most (says tho London "Times"). In 1770 Guibert printed his "Essai Gen- 1 eral de Tratiquo" at ono of tho clandestine presses in the Netherlands. The book created a sensation throughout Europe.. Tho Government suppressed it in France, and thereby heightened the general interest in tho Essay—and in its author. Frederick II declared that the young colonel* of 27 was •"rushing on by all the paths of glory," aaid Voltaire "did not know whetW he would bo a Corneille or a Turenno." The society .of Paris—particularly tho brilliant'circle of tho Encyclopedistes— < of.tho salons of Mine. Geoffrin, Mmo. du Deffand, Mme. Necker, and others —pursued him with flattery and attentions. The ban upon tho Essay was soon . removed, and the views it k expressed were largely adopted in tho - reforms in the army effected under the Ministry of Brienne shortly before the Revolution. .Napoleon is said .to have annotated a copy in his own hand, and to have carried it with him in his early campaigns.. This, howovor, appears not to havo been the copy studied by Mr. Vivian, as he does not mentioii any notes. Ministers and the State. Guibert had a profound contempt for tho lax Ministerial system of his day. Wo can understand why Napoleon, who concentrated- the Government of the French Empire in his own hands marked the following passage:— "In nearly all the States of Europe tho different hranches of the administration are directed by s'oparato Ministers, whose views and interests cross and thwart each other. Each occupies himself exclusively with his own Business. It is. as if the other departments belonged to a foreign nation. Happy, indeed, are the States whore these Ministers, in their jealousy, do not treat each other as enemies." , "They direct affairs at_ haphazard," Guibort adds later, "and in accordance ' with established routine." The ■ criticism was written nearly a hundred.and fifty years ago. Is it quite out of dato in the England of to-day? Hero is Guibert's picture of tho kind of peace Ministers of this character habitually, conclude:— "What can be the issuo of our wars 'today?... . . Victor and vanquished becomo about equally exhausted. Tho total of the -public debt increases. Credit falls. Money is scarce. Tho navios find no_ more sailors; the armies "no mora soldiers. Ministers on both sides feel that it is time to negotiate Peace is made. A few colonies or provinces change masters. Often tho Source of dispute is not closed, and Sach of the belligerents remains seated

among his ruins, busy paying his debts and sharpening' his sword." , Again Napoleon scores tho pago. Then we have Guibert's ideal of a warlike State; an ideal with the" full Potsdam flavour. Tho Emperor could not ■ but' recognise it as akin to his own :— "But supposo there arose in Enropo a people vigorous in character, '■ in resources, and in its government; a people that possessed, together with austere virtues and a national military system, a settled plan of aggrandisement; that kept this plan in viow; and that know how to make war'at small cost and to' live on its victories, so as not to bo reduced to laying down its arms through considerations of finance. That people would be seen subjugating its neighbours and overthrowing our feeble Constitutions as the north wind bends frail reeds." Guibert was writing at a time when sentimental "pacifism" was in fashion. He defers to. polite opinion' by assuming that his' ideal State is to fight only wiien, attacked. When, however, it does fight, it is to fight with truo Prussian Furchterlichkeit. Again, Napoleon is impressed:— "Terriblo m its wrath, it .will visit its enemy with fire and sword. It will terrify by its. vengeanco all nations that might bo tomptod to troublo its reposo. And let no man call barbarism, or violation of the pretended laws of war' these reprisals that are founded upon the laws of nature. ... It will avenge itself, and by the terror of its revengo.it will assure its tranquillity for the future." This State, Guibert predicts, will endure;, but only upon ono condition. Napoleon had recklessly broken it. With what memories ho must have pencilled the page! "If this _ Government be wise enough to "discern this point, beyond which furthor elevation would not weaken it; if it knows how to stop there and keep there; the State set upon this pinnaclo of power and unshakably established upon tho stormy sea of fate, will livo to see events and tho ages break, like waves, at its feet." Humane Warfare. Then there comes a reflection adopted and repeated by Napoleon in his published writings:— "Tho way in which the. ancients made war was, it must bo admitted, mora apt to make nations bravo and warlike. A people beaten in war suffered tho extromo of misery. Often the conquered were put to tho sword, or dragged into slavery. Fear of this treatment, which made a deep impression on men's minds, was hound 'to induce nations to cultivate discipline and military training. It was bound to make war tho first and the most useful of all professions. To-day (i.0., in 1770). the wholo of Europe is civilised. Wars have becomo less cruel. Savo in combat, no blood is shed; prisoners are respected; towns are no more destroyed ; tho countryside is no more ravaged. Conquered people are only liable to pay some sort of contributions, which are often less heavy than tho taxes they paid to their own sovereign. Protected by the victor, their lot docs not grow worse." The humanity with which tho more civilised nations treated non-comba-tants at tho end of tho 18th century is well illustrated by Gether's account of tho courtosv and consideration of the French officer quartered in the

house of liis patents in 1759. He would not oven pin his maps against the walls for fear of injuring tho hangings ; he was tho friend and playfellow of the children, and ho forgave, the poet's father an insult which tho Zabern school would assuredly visit with death. To this cause Guihert attributes "the _ extinction of patriotism and the epidemic relaxation of public spirit." They had'gono pretty far in an ago when d'Alombert and many other chiefs of tho Encyclopedistes watched the victories of Frederick II over their own countrymen "with a tender interest/' and when d'Alomhert warmly congratulated "the phil-osopher-Icing" on tho peaco which sealed tho humiliation of France. They had gone pretty far, in- certain circle's hero before tho war.' By reviving upon system the atrocities of ancient and mediaeval warfare against tho civil populations of tho districts she has occupied Germany has stayed the plague and has taught our people, as only this lesson could have taught them,' that slackness and inefficiency in ficrMin" such an enemy entail an 'awful penalty" Ino "austere virtues" of which Guibert speaks have boon renewed amongst us but even these cannot bring us victory without the strong nnd resolute 'Government'for which he called.