Page:Notes on the Anti-Corn Law Struggle.djvu/296

 an anomaly in history. For though he can surely not he compared to Tiberius in force of character or in military or political knowledge and ability, he did more than Tiberius can be said to have done. He stamped out the life of a great nation for some twenty years. What Tiberius did was to complete the work of Julius and Augustus in stamping out the life of the Roman Republic. But he only completed the work begun by the first Cæsar, and carried on by his immediate successor, whereas the work begun by the first Bonaparte had been interrupted—broken off completely;—and this man and his band of coadjutors had to do it over again from the beginning. They succeeded in what they had undertaken; and how they succeeded is as strange and terrible a tale, as Mr. Kinglake tells it, as can be found in the records of the world; and more wonderful, because, as Mr. Kinglake has shown, the head conspirator among these adventurers wanted that quality which has usually been considered indispensable for such work—the power of calm though rapid thought in moments of crisis and of danger. It was indeed sad for France that a man should be able to stamp out her life who certainly could not be reckoned a man of genius in the sense in which the first