ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, I, 24 January 1808, pp. 49–51. Reprinted in Hunt, Political, pp. 80–5. For other assessments of the situation in Europe at this juncture, where the war in Europe appeared to Hunt and many others to be a losing effort, see ‘Peace or War’, The Examiner, I, 13 March 1808, pp. 161–2; and ‘Deliverance of Europe’, The Examiner, I, 11 September 1808, pp. 577–9. Hunt’s comments on Napoleon, reflecting his complicated reaction to the key political figure of his day (see headnote above, p. 27) are too prolific to be listed here, but they include his masque The Descent of Liberty (1815; Vol. 5, pp. 83–122) and the much later account of his views of Napoleon in his Autobiography (see Autobiography, vol. ii, pp. 47–54). Hunt worked to define a position whereby he could criticize Napoleon without either neglecting his genius or embracing his enemies. See, for example, The Examiner, II, 19 November 1809, pp. 737–9, and III, 30 September 1810, pp. 609–10. See also the long-running argument with the Venetian exile and inveterate Napoleon-hater Count Zenobio, The Examiner, III, 29 July 1810, pp. 476–7; 9 September 1810, pp. 571–3; 30 September 1810, pp. 609–10; 7 October 1810, pp. 633–5; 27 January 1811, pp. 59–60; and 10 February 1811, pp. 89–90, and especially 22 July 1810, pp. 449–51 where Hunt marshals evidence from his Examiner writings on Napoleon to clarify his position.
