Historical Importance of his Character and Genius.
If you want to comprehend a building， you have to imagine the circumstances， I mean the difficulties and the means， the kind and quality of its available materials， the moment， the opportunity， and the urgency of the demand for it. But， still more important， we must consider the genius and taste of the architect， especially whether he is the proprietor， whether he built it to live in himself， and， once installed in it， whether he took pains to adapt it to how own way of living， to his own necessities， to his own use. - Such is the social edifice erected by Napoleon Bonaparte， its architect， proprietor， and principal occupant from 1799 to 1814. It is he who has made modern France； never was an individual character so profoundly stamped on any collective work， so that， to comprehend the work， we must first study the character of the Man.[2]
I. Napoleon's Past and Personality.
He is of another race and another century. - Origin of his paternal family. - Transplanted to Corsica. - His maternal family. -Laetitia Ramolino. - Persistence of Corsican souvenirs in Napoleon's mind. - His youthful sentiments regarding Corsica and France. -Indications found in his early compositions and in his style. -Current monarchical or democratic ideas have no hold on him. - His impressions of the 20th of June and 10th of August after the 31st of May. - His associations with Robespierre and Barras without committing himself. - His sentiments and the side he takes Vendémiaire 13th. - The great Condottière. - His character and conduct in Italy.
- Description of him morally and physically in 1798. - The early and sudden ascendancy which he exerts. Analogous in spirit and character to his Italian ancestors of the XVth century.
Disproportionate in all things， but， stranger still， he is not only out of the common run， but there is no standard of measurement for him； through his temperament， instincts， faculties， imagination， passions， and moral constitution he seems cast in a special mould， composed of another metal than that which enters into the composition of his fellows and contemporaries. Evidently he is not a Frenchman， nor a man of the eighteenth century； he belongs to another race and another epoch.[3] We detect in him， at the first glance， the foreigner， the Italian，[4] and something more， apart and beyond these， surpassing all similitude or analogy.-Italian he was through blood and lineage； first， through his paternal family， which is Tuscan，[5] and which we can follow down from the twelfth century， at Florence， then at San Miniato ； next at Sarzana， a small， backward， remote town in the state of Genoa， where， from father to son， it vegetates obscurely in provincial isolation， through a long line of notaries and municipal syndics. "My origin，" says Napoleon himself，[6] " has made all Italians regard me as a compatriot. . . . When the question of the marriage of my sister Pauline with Prince Borghése came up there was but one voice in Rome and in Tuscany， in that family， and with all its connections： 'It will do，' said all of them， 'it's amongst ourselves， it is one of our own families...'" When the Pope later hesitated about coming to Paris to crown Napoleon， "the Italian party in the Conclave prevailed against the Austrian party by supporting political arguments with the following slight tribute to national amour propre： 'After all we are imposing an Italian family on the barbarians， to govern them.
We are revenging ourselves on the Gauls.'" Significant words， which will one day throw light upon the depths of the Italian nature， the eldest daughter of modern civilization， imbued with her right of primogeniture， persisting in her grudge against the transalpines， the rancorous inheritor of Roman pride and of antique patriotism.[7]
From Sarzana， a Bonaparte emigrates to Corsica， where he establishes himself and lives after 1529. The following year Florence is taken and subjugated for good. Henceforth， in Tuscany， under Alexander de Medici， then under Cosmo I. and his successors， in all Italy under Spanish rule， municipal independence， private feuds， the great exploits of political adventures and successful usurpations， the system of ephemeral principalities， based on force and fraud， all give way to permanent repression， monarchical discipline， external order， and a certain species of public tranquility. Thus， just at the time when the energy and ambition， the vigorous and free sap of the Middle Ages begins to run down and then dry up in the shriveled trunk，[8] a small detached branch takes root in an island， not less Italian but almost barbarous， amidst institutions， customs， and passions belonging to the primitive medieval epoch，[9] and in a social atmosphere sufficiently rude for the maintenance of all its vigor and harshness.