Is the luck of Napoleon turning ? If ever the
Emperor needed an able administrator, trusted by soldiers, at the head of his Army, it is now ; and he seems about to lose the one he had obtained. By the latest accounts, Marshal Niel, his Minister of War, general, organizer, and debater of the first class, the man who succeeded in inducing France to allow all her sons to be drilled, bad numbers as soldiers, good numbers as soldiers in reserve, lies in extremes, dying of the exhaustion produced by an operation for the stone. It will be nearly impossible to replace him, for France has not another soldier statesman who can command a great army, control a great bureau, make a great speech, and yet be devoted to the Empire. Since the death of De Morny, who could bridle the Chamber without letting it feel the curb, the Empire has had no loss so irreparable.
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