NAPOLEON AND THE KAISER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 152, 23 November 1914, Page 8

NAPOLEON AND THE KAISER.

Mr J. R. Moreton iMacdonald, writing to the Spectator, compares Napoleon with the Kaiser in these terms: —"No doubt Napoleon was our bitter enemy; no doubt be was, in the latter part of ! his career, carried away by bis dream j of a universal Empire; no doubt also—- ! and this is where he chiefly resembles our present enemy—lie was quiet unscrupulous in bis diplomacy and in his i economy of truth. Ilis treacherous dealings with Spain were a'most on a par with Germany's dealings with Belgium. Once in a terrible military strait, after the battle of El lArish, he killed bis prisoners. On another occasion he violated a neutral State. But we must remember four things about Napoleon—(1) He was an Italian adventurer, to I whom the reproach Noblesse oblige did not apply; (2) He was above all things a soldier to whom the sword was the natural weapon; (3) He found France I at war with Europe, invaded, menaced by a hostile coalition—in the first instance, at any rate; his wars were not wars of aggression; (4) his career ended just a hundred years ago, and it is not unfair to expect a somewhat higher standard of political morality after the lapse of a whole century. Napoleon was a braggart, but he never bragged of himself as an Attila. His wars no doubt brought hideous suffering—all wars inevitably do so—but be never adopted the vile idea of suffering for its own sake, never talked of leaving the conquered nothing but eyes to weep with; that was reserved for a later state of civilisation. Ha pilfered for the benefit of France, it is true, but so far as I know, he never burnt towns except to Bcrve a military purpose, never encouraged the murder of civilians; above all, lie never wantonly destroyed a university town. He did not boast of culture the way tho Qermanj^io/but he knew its value too well