LOUIS NAPOLEON.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 729, 9 April 1853, Page 3

LOUIS NAPOLEON.

(From lire “San Francisco Whig," Jan. 5) The life of this man who is as } T et not past his prime, has been most stirring and eventful. At once, the son of a king, and the grandson of the great Napoleon hy his marriage with Josephine, he nevertheless seems to have been his whole life the sport of Fortune. At one time we find him a wanderer in the streets of New York city, often arrested for creating nightly rows with debauched companions—again, an exile in Switzerland—then a prisoner in the castle of Ham, from which he escapes and flees to England. Returning upon the dethronement of Louis Philippe, he is elected President of the French Republic, and now wc see him about to be endowed with the Imperial purple. History contains hut few instances of such remarkable changes of fortune. He has been, and is, regarded by many as a man of ordinary attainments, of mean literary abilit} T ,and of short-sighted statesmanship. The main incident we hear cited in support of this opinion of him is, his unsuccessful attempt, made a few yearn since with a small band of men, to create a revolution in France. His operations in this affair were doubtless ill advised ; hut to judge of the man hy this single endeavour would be most unjust. That he is well skilled in the theory of military operations, will not bo doubted by any one who has read his Art of War. In this work, though written in his youthful j'cars, he exhibits hard study, a discriminating mind, and no ordinary powers of observation. But it'was our especial object to call attention to a literary production of the Prince President, which wo rarely hear mentioned, and which is but seldom found in this country. We refer to bis Review of the History of Napoleon by Walter Scott. Wc have never seen but one copy of tins work, and that wc discovered amid a heap of old books some years since, hut so vividly was our mind impressed at the time with the force and ability of the nephew’s defence of his great uncle, that our recollection of it is most distinct. Walter Scott, the prince of romance writers, and a pleasant poet, can scarcely be denominated a fair historian. The circumstances of the times in which he lived, the relations which England bore toward France, the bitter hatred entertained toward Napoleon by almost every Englishman, and other causes, infected the mind of Sir Walter with a bitter prejudice, which poorly fitted him to write the history of his country’s greatest foe. This will he admitted by the careful reader of his History of Napoleon. Throughout its pages, the author betrays the real feelings of his heart ; for Sir Walter was a frank and honest man, and neither hesitates to throw a shade over the commendable traits of the Emperor’s character, nor conceals a desire to blacken those which were dark enough before. He often praises the prowess of his Marshals, but rarely that of Napoleon. He sometimes descends even to ridicule, as in the account of the Russian campaign. In the review we have mentioned, Louis Napoleon in a most masterly and able manner, takes up the gauntlet in favor of his uncle ; and we opine that Sir Walter himself, if he ever road the volume, would admit its power and skill, if not its justice and truthfulness. The whole book is a most able defence of, and affectionate tribute to his uncle ; and we trust there may be a republication of it, if for no other reason than that the world may know how far Louis Napoleon is from possessing a mean ability as a writer, or cold-hearted-ncss as a man. How he may stand in the eye of the world, and especially of his own countrymen, so far os regards His recent course, time alone can determine ; but it is useless and frivolous to deny him great foresight and consummate ability.