按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
the judgment expressed in this and the following chapters。 The
psychology of Napoleon as here given is largely confirmed by them。
'44' Roederer; III; 380 (1802)。
'45' Napoleon uses the French word just which means both fair;
justifiable; pertinent; correct; and in music true。
'46' 〃Mémorial。〃
'47' De Pradt; 〃Histoire de l'Ambassade dans la grande…duché de
Varsovie en 1812;〃 preface; p。 X; and 5。
'48' Roederer; III。; 544 (February 24; 1809)。 Cf。 Meneval; 〃Napoléon
et Marie…Louise; souvenirs historiques;〃 I。; 210…213。
'49' Pelet de la Lozère;〃 Opinions de Napoléon au conseil d'état;〃
p。8。 … Roederer; III。; 380。
'50' Mollien; 〃Mémoires;〃 I。; 379; II。; 230。…Roederer; III。; 434。 〃He
is at the head of all things。 He governs; administrates; negotiates;
works eighteen hours a day; with the clearest and best organized head;
he has governed more in three years than kings in a hundred years。〃 …
Lavalette; 〃Mémoires;〃 II。; 75。 (The words of Napoleon's secretary on
Napoleon's labor in Paris; after Leipsic) 〃He retires at eleven; but
gets up at three o'clock in the morning; and until the evening there
is not a moment he does not devote to work。 It is time this stopped;
for he will be used up; and myself before he is。〃… Gaudin; Duc de
Ga?te; 〃Mémoires;〃 III。 (supplement); p。75。 Account of an evening in
which; from eight o'clock to three in the morning; Napoleon examines
with Gaudin his general budget; during seven consecutive hours;
without stopping a minute。 …Sir Neil Campbell; 〃Napoléon at
Fontainebleau and at Elbe;〃 p。243。 〃Journal de Sir Neil Campbell a'
l'ile d'Elbe〃: I never saw any man; in any station in life; so
personally active and so persistent in his activity。 He seems to take
pleasure in perpetual motion and in seeing those who accompany him
completely tired out; which frequently happened in my case when I
accompanied him。 。 。 Yesterday; after having been on his legs from
eight in the morning to three in the afternoon; visiting the frigates
and transports; even to going down to the lower compartments among the
horses; he rode on horseback for three hours; and; as he afterwards
said to me; to rest himself。〃
'51' The starting…point of the great discoveries of Darwin is the
physical; detailed description he made in his study of animals and
plants; as living; during the whole course of life; through so many
difficulties and subject to a fierce competition。 This study is
wholly lacking in the ordinary zoologist or botanist; whose mind is
busy only with anatomical preparations or collections of plants。 In
every science; the difficulty lies in describing in a nutshell; using
significant examples; the real object; just as it exists before us;
and its true history。 Claude Bernard one day remarked to me; 〃We
shall know physiology when we are able to follow step by step a
molecule of carbon or azote in the body of a dog; give its history;
and describe its passage from its entrance to its exit。〃
'52' Thibaudeau; 〃Mémoires sur le Consulat;〃 204。 (Apropos of the
tribunate): 〃They consist of a dozen or fifteen metaphysicians who
ought to be flung into the water; they crawl all over me like vermin。
'53' Madame de Rémusat; I。; 115: 〃He is really ignorant; having read
very little and always hastily。〃 … Stendhal; 〃Mémoires sur Napoleon〃:
〃 His education was very defective。 。 。 。He knew nothing of the
great principles discovered within the past one hundred years;〃 and
just those which concern man or society。 〃For example; he had not
read Montesquieu as this writer ought to be read; that is to say; in a
way to accept or decidedly reject each of the thirty…one books of the
'Esprit des lois。' He had not thus read Bayle's Dictionary nor the
Essay on the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith。 This ignorance of the
Emperor's was not perceptible in conversation; and first; because he
led in conversation; and next because with Italian finesse no question
put by him; or careless supposition thrown out; ever betrayed that
ignorance。〃 … Bourrienne。 I。; 19; 21: At Brienne; 〃unfortunately for
us; the monks to whom the education of youth was confided knew
nothing; and were too poor to pay good foreign teachers。 。 。 。 It
is inconceivable how any capable man ever graduated from this
educational institution。〃 … Yung; I。; 125 (Notes made by him on
Bonaparte; when he left the Military Academy): 〃Very fond of the
abstract sciences; indifferent to others; well grounded in mathematics
and geography。〃
'54' Roederer; III。; 544 (March 6; 1809); 26; 563 (Jan。 23; 1811; and
Nov。 12; 1813)。
'55' Mollien; I。; 348 (a short time before the rupture of the peace of
Amiens); III。; 16: 〃It was at the end of January; 1809; that he wanted
a full report of the financial situation on the 31st of December; 1808
。 。 。 。 This report was to be ready in two days。〃 … III。; 34: 〃A
complete balance sheet of the public treasury for the first six months
of 1812 was under Napoleon's eyes at Witebsk; the 11th of August;
eleven days after the close of these first six months。 What is truly
wonderful is; that amidst so many different occupations and
preoccupations 。 。 。 。 he could preserve such an accurate run of
the proceedings and methods of the administrative branches about which
he wanted to know at any moment。 Nobody had any excuse for not
answering him; for each was questioned in his own terms; it is that
singular aptitude of the head of the State; and the technical
precision of his questions; which alone explains how he could maintain
such a remarkable ensemble in an administrative system of which the
smallest threads centered in himself。〃
'56' 200 years after the death of Napoleon Sir Alfred Ayer thus
writes in 〃LANGUAGE; TRUTH AND LOGIC〃: 'Actually; we shall see that
the only test to which a form of scientific procedure which satisfies
the necessary condition of self…consistency is subject; is the test of
its success in practice。 We are entitled to have faith in our
procedure just so long as it does the work it is designed to do … that
is; enables us to predict future experience; and so to control our
environment。〃
And on the Purpose of Inquiry:
'The traditional disputes of philosophers are; for the most part; as
unwarranted as they are unfruitful。 The surest way to end them is to
establish beyond question what should be the purpose and the method of
philosophical inquiry。' (SR。)
'57' An expression of Mollien。
'58' Meneval; I。; 210; 213。 … Roederer; III。; 537; 545 (February and
March; 1889): Words of Napoleon: 〃At this moment it was nearly
midnight。〃 … Ibid。; IV。; 55 (November; 1809)。 Read the admirable
examination of Roederer by Napoleon on the Kingdom of Naples。 His
queries form a vast systematic and concise network; embracing the
entire subject; leaving no physical or moral data; no useful
circumstance not seized upon。 … Ségur; II。; 231: M。 De Ségur; ordered
to inspect every part of the coast…line; had sent in his report: 〃'I
have seen your reports;' said the First Consul to me; 'and they are
exact。 Nevertheless; you forgot at Osten two cannon out of the four。'
… And he pointed out the place; 'a roadway behind the town。' I went
out overwhelmed with astonishment that among thousands of cannon
distributed among the mounted batteries or light artillery on the
coast; two pieces should not have escaped his recollection。〃 …
〃Correspondance;〃 letter to King Joseph; August 6; 1806: 〃The
admirable condition of my armies is due to this; that I give attention
to them every day for an hour or two; and; when the monthly reports
come in; to the state of my troops and fleets; all forming about
twenty large volumes。 I leave every other occupation to read them
over in detail; to see what difference there is between one month and
another。 I take more pleasure in reading those than any young girl
does in a novel。〃 … Cadet de Gassicourt; 〃Voyage en Autriche〃(1809)。
On his reviews at Schoenbrunn and his verification of the contents of
a pontoon…wagon; taken as an example。
'59' One ancient French league equals app。 4 km。 (SR。)
'60' Bourrienne; II。; 116; IV。; 238: 〃He had not a good memory for
proper names; words; and dates; but it was prodigious for facts and
localities。 I remember that; on the way from Paris to Toulon; he
called my attention to ten places suitable for giving battle。 。 。
。 It was a souvenir of his youthful travels; and he described to me
the lay of the ground; designating the positions he would have taken
even before we were on the spot。〃 March 17; 1800; puncturing a card
with a pin; he shows Bourrienne the place where he intends to beat
Mélas; at San Juliano。 〃Four months after this I found myself at San
Juliano with his portfolio and dispatches; and; that very evening; at
Torre…di…Gafolo; a league off; I wrote the bulletin of the battle
under his dictat