When I was seventeen, I had been given a great book to read, by my uncle Nasim Hijazi.
The book was titled ” THE LIFE AND THE TIMES OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.” It was written by Abbot, full name of whom I have forgotten. What I’ve not forgotten is the interest with which I had read all those 1500+pages of the book.
Napoleon’s character and qualities had fascinated me. The book had been published in 1860, some years after Napoleon’s death , and its author had based his narrative on mostly first-hand information. The real Napoleon had been so different from the one that the British historians, chroniclers and commentators have projected that one cannot but feel disgusted at the British dishonesty. Quite understandably Abbot’s book was banned in England soon after its first appearance. The British mind could not allow an enemy to gain a place of reverence in the esteem of the people .
I remember quite a few lines from the book.
When Napoleon entered Paris as a conqueror the first time, he went straight to the Academy of France, checked the archives and dished out the manuscript of an essay he had entered in a competition when still a student . The essay had won young Bonaparte an award. When Napoleon threw the manuscripts in the fireplace, those around him were shocked: ” Why sir?”
Napoleon looked at them with a grin and replied: “I don’t want to go down into history as a second-rate writer.”
Another incident that I remember was the one in which Bonaparte when just nine had locked himself up in his room to solve and resolve an extremely difficult mathematical equation that his teacher in the school had given him. Bonaparte’s mother was alarmed .
“Why the hell aren’t you coming out from your room Nap?”
“I’ll mother,” Napoleon replied. ” But not before I do my home work successfully .”
” Take your dinner at least,” his mother said.
” I’ll not eat,nor sleep till I have succeeded Mom.”
He did succeed of course . But after a sleepless night.
When he submitted his answer to the teacher the next day in the school, the teacher was bewildered.
“How the hell have you done it Napoleon. I myself failed at it.”
“Failure is a word unknown to me sir,” said the 9-year-old boy who was destined to create history.
The reason I’ve remembered Napoleon today is that almost all great leaders of the post-French Revolution eras have been, in one way or the other, been influenced by Napoleon’s life-including our Quaid and ZAB.
Is there anybody around us today who will pick up these words of Napoleon, and print them on a flag to be hoisted in the skies of Pakistan?
(This Column was first published on 08-06-2012)
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