Synthesized answer
Prince Andrew distinguishes between Napoleon's actions as a private person, as a general, and as an emperor [1]. He acknowledges that Napoleon as a man was "great on the bridge of Arcola, and in the hospital at Jaffa where he gave his hand to the plague-stricken" [1]. However, Prince Andrew also notes that there are "other acts which it is difficult to justify" [1].
The passages do not further elaborate on this distinction or provide specific examples of these other acts that Prince Andrew found difficult to justify.
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
rrible as his words suggested. All were silent. “How do you expect him to answer you all at once?” said Prince Andrew. “Besides, in the actions of a statesman one has to distinguish between his acts as a private person, as a general, and as an emperor. So it seems to me.” “Yes, yes, of course!” Pierre chimed in, pleased at the arrival of this reinforcement. “One must admit,” continued Prince Andrew, “that Napoleon as a man was great on the bridge of Arcola, and in the hospital at Jaffa where he gave his hand to the plague-stricken; but ... but there are other acts which it is…
ith nervous excitement; his eyes, in which the fire of life had seemed extinguished, now flashed with brilliant light. It was evident that the more lifeless he seemed at ordinary times, the more impassioned he became in these moments of almost morbid irritation. “You don’t understand why I say this,” he continued, “but it is the whole story of life. You talk of Bonaparte and his career,” said he (though Pierre had not mentioned Bonaparte), “but Bonaparte when he worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had nothing but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie…
ess of soul?” said the little princess, smiling and drawing her work nearer to her. “Oh! Oh!” exclaimed several voices. “Capital!” said Prince Hippolyte in English, and began slapping his knee with the palm of his hand. The vicomte merely shrugged his shoulders. Pierre looked solemnly at his audience over his spectacles and continued. “I say so,” he continued desperately, “because the Bourbons fled from the Revolution leaving the people to anarchy, and Napoleon alone understood the Revolution and quelled it, and so for the general good, he could not stop short for the sake of one man’s…
tainly throw itself into the arms of its rightful king,” she concluded, trying to be amiable to the royalist emigrant. “That is doubtful,” said Prince Andrew. “Monsieur le Vicomte quite rightly supposes that matters have already gone too far. I think it will be difficult to return to the old regime.” “From what I have heard,” said Pierre, blushing and breaking into the conversation, “almost all the aristocracy has already gone over to Bonaparte’s side.” “It is the Buonapartists who say that,” replied the vicomte without looking at Pierre. “At the present time it is difficult to…
g a career for three months, and had not decided on anything. It was about this choice that Prince Andrew was speaking. Pierre rubbed his forehead. “But he must be a Freemason,” said he, referring to the abbé whom he had met that evening. “That is all nonsense.” Prince Andrew again interrupted him, “let us talk business. Have you been to the Horse Guards?” “No, I have not; but this is what I have been thinking and wanted to tell you. There is a war now against Napoleon. If it were a war for freedom I could understand it and should be the first to enter the army; but to help England…