SAID BY NAPOLEON.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 238, 29 December 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

SAID BY NAPOLEON.

' APPLICABLE TO THE PRESENT :. WAR.

The military skil lof Napo eon I. was so great, his power of organisation and Station to details so vast his know£s £ men so keen, .and his «mto BorSmy*ded, that it »W difficult to w with certainty what he might tore thought and done if be> had.been Emperor of France to-day. Yet ; in the volume entitled "Tlra Confidential CorJSndence of Napoleon Bonaparte wittrhis Brother Joseph" passages can be found which form apt answers to some presant-day questions. For example, of Prussia., he wrote, on 3rd October, 1806: "I have communicated my firm resolution whatever be the resaH of the present discussion, to break off alLalfcance with Prussia. . . I«« have no alliance with a Power so changeable and so contemptible. Of course I am ready to be at peace with her;; llhave no right to shed uselessly the blood ot m y subjects. • • Sh* » °o* t* e was in 1740 and always has been, without consistency and Prussian can never be trusted.

THE ENEMY IN OUR MIDOT. In another'page Napoleon wrote :-* "When were traitors ever before allowed to live and to live free in ft capi-tal-wretches who had plotted ftgaanst the State? Their, lives ought not to heWed but if that is done, at least you diould send them sixty leagues from the capital or shut them up in a fortress. Any other conduct is madanother letter, he writes:— "It js of importance that you should recall all the diplomatic agents appointed by the last dynasty. It is not right to leave them at their posts; they betray you everywhere; and indeed it is impossible for an honest man to change fiis colours between morning and evening." * ,

THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. The elaborate directions to his brother about the management of military enterprises form a prominent feature of dozens of the letters. Very many passages might be quoted to illustrate the importance of attention to details and his contempt for a policy of "Wait and see." Of one of his Generals he wrote:— ... "I had a right to. expect that he would want neither activity nor aeal. He had lost me a day, and on one day may depend the destiny of the world." "In war loss of tame is irreparable. The excuses th»t a» made for it are always bad." "Do not begin the fire on the fortress until you have plenty of guns in position and have brought a great quantity of ammunition to the park. Whatever they may tell you, believe that one fights with cannon as with fists. When once the fire is begun the least want of ammunition renders what you have already done useless. . . . The fire ought to go on increasing. . Do not begin that siege until you have guns, cariages, ammunition, gabions, tools, earth-bags, etc., and 10,000 infantry ; otherwise you will be accused of having received a check, the capture of the place will be delayed, and valuable preparations will be wasted."

WAR CONTRACTS AND ROBBERY

To the Director of the Administration of War he wrote:—"What I want are greatcoaits and shoes. I should want nothing if my orders had been executed, because the Commissary cannot be relied on, and because he has been dealing with rogues. . . I will have no contracts; you know that contracts produce nothing but robbery. . . Act on this principle—that every contractor is a thief; that when you pay contracts are unnecessary, and that the best plan is always to make for yourself. . . There can BeTno difficul-

ty in getting through the work; 10,000 suits of clothes a day mibht he made; all that woudl be necessary would be to send for workpeople from every part of France. If you had acted thus all would now be going on well. Better late than never. I will have no contracts."

ONE FOR THE HUNS. From a British official dispatch he learned that Wellesley had beaten the French at Talavera; that battle haa lieen erroneously reported to him as a victory for the French. He writes:— "Express to Marshal Jourdan my extreme displeasure at the inaccuracies and falsehoodsin his reports. . . Tell him that his "dispatches do not describe events as they took place. . . Make him feel that thi3 dishonesty is a feal crime that was nearly having fatal results. . . I have a right to be told tho truth; it is necessary for the good of my subjects." Yet he believed in diplomatic exaggeration of details which were unknown to the enemy, and sometimes he gives interesting examples of successfully bluffing his opponents. To Qeneral Clarke he writes:—"l wish you to write to my brother to impress upon him that nothing can be more contrary to the rules of war than to publish the strength of the array either in orders of the day, in proclamations. or in the newspapers; that when he has occasion to speaK of his strength he ought to render it formidable by exaggeration, doubling or trebling his numbers. . . Men naturally believe that in the long run the small number will be beaten by the greater."

PEACE-MAKING. "Crying out for peace," write Napoleon, "is not the means of getting it . . . Nothing can be more silly or in worse taste. I shall make peace when I t'link it in the interest of my people to do so, and tho outcries of a few intriguers will not hasten or delay it by a single hour. . . I will fight if it be necessary more than one battle more to arrive at a peace with securities. I trust nothing to chance; what I say, I do, or I die."