Helena, the
more truth withdrew into the background and fiction stepped into the
limelight. His holocausts of human life were forgotten; only the glory,
the unconquerable prowess of his arms, was remembered. French cottages
were adorned with cheap likenesses of the little corporal's features;
quaint, endearing nicknames for their hero were on villagers' lips; and
around hearth and campfire were related apocryphal anecdotes of his
exploits at Lodi, at Austerlitz, and at Wagram. From a selfish despot
Napoleon was returning to his mightier, if humbler, position as a child
of the people. Thus the last years at St. Helena were far from
fruitless: they proved once more that the pen is mightier than the
sword,--for one day, not by feats of arms, but by the power of the
Napoleonic Legend, another Bonaparte was to be seated upon the throne
of France.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ERA OF NAPOLEON
[Sidenote: A Continuation of the Revolutionary Era]
[Sidenote: Liberty under Napoleon]
If we turn now from the story of Napoleon's life to an attempt to
appraise the significance of the whole era which fittingly bears his
name, we are struck by its manifold achievements in politics and
society, in commerce, and in war.
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