disreputable
life, and was not a man of great intellect, but he was presumed
to be devoted to his old comrade. His friendship, however, had not
always a happy effect upon the fortunes of his master. In 1872 he
made a miserable end of his adventurous life, after having turned
against the emperor in his adversity.

Fleury was another personal friend of Louis Napoleon, and was probably
his best. The prince president had distinguished him when he was
only a subaltern in the army. He had enlisted in the ranks, and
had done good service in Algeria. In the emperor's last days of
failing health he loved to keep Fleury beside him; but the empress
was jealous of her husband's friend, and used her influence to
have him honorably exiled to St. Petersburg as French ambassador.
This post he occupied when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, so
that he could be of little help to his master.

Saint-Arnaud had been made a marshal and minister of war, in spite
of having been twice turned out of the French army.

M. Rouher had charge of the emperor's financial concerns, and Fould
was a man who understood bureau-work, and how to manipulate government
machinery.

Whoever might be the emperor's ministers, this little clique of
his personal adherents--De Morny, Persigny, Saint-Arnaud, Fleury,
Rouher, and Fould--were always around their master, giving him
their advice and sharing (so far as he allowed anyone to share)
his intimate councils.

The members of the Bonaparte family were an immense expense to the
emperor, and gave him no little trouble. They were not the least
thirsty among those who thronged around the fountain of wealth and
honor; and their importunate demands upon the emperor's bounty led
to a perpetual and reckless waste of money. The empress frequently
remonstrated with her husband in regard to his lavish largesses
and too generous expenditure. Contrary to what has been generally
supposed, she was herself orderly and methodical in her expenditures
and accounts, always carefully examining her bills, and though by
the emperor's express desire she always expended the large amount
annually allowed her, she never exceeded that sum.

Unhappily, the revived imperialism of Louis Napoleon was not, like
Legitimacy, a _cause_, but to most persons who supported it, it
was a speculation. Adherents had therefore to be attracted to it
by hopes of gain, and all services had to be handsomely rewarded.

The emperor's policy in the early