est of mankind. A diplomat, who often saw him and studied
him under all as aspects, sums up his character in one conclusive
phrase:

"He considered himself an isolated being in this world, made to govern
and direct all minds as he pleased."[1253]

Hence, whoever has anything to do with him, must abandon his
independence and become his tool of government.

"That terrible man," often exclaimed Decres[1254] "has subjugated us
all! He holds all our imaginations in his hands, now of steel and now
of velvet, but whether one or the other during the day nobody knows, and
there is no way to escape from them whatever they seize on they never
let go!"

Independence of any kind, even eventual and merely possible, puts him in
a bad mood; intellectual or moral superiority is of this order, and he
gradually gets rid of it;[1255] toward the end he no longer tolerates
alongside of him any but subject or captive spirits. His principal
servants are machines or fanatics, a devout worshipper, like Maret, a
gendarme, like Savary,[1256] ready to do his bidding. From the outset,
he has reduced his ministers to the condition of clerks; for he is
administrator as well as ruler, and in each department he watches
details as closely as the entire mass. Accordingly, he requires simply
for head of departments active pen pushers, mute executors, docile and
special hands, no need for honest and independent advisers.

"I should not know what to do with them," he said, "if they were not to
a certain extent mediocre in mind and character."

As to his generals, he admits himself that "he likes to award fame only
to those who cannot stand it." In any event, "he must be sole master in
making or unmaking reputations," according to his personal requirements.
Too brilliant a soldier would become too important; a subordinate should
never be tempted to be less submissive. To this end he studies what he
will omit in his bulletins, what alterations and what changes shall be
made in them.

"It is convenient to keep silent about certain victories, or to convert
the defeat of this or that marshal into a success. Sometimes a general
learns by a bulletin of an action that he was never in and of a speech
that he never made."

If he complains, he is notified to keep still, or by way of recompense
he is allowed to pillage, levy contributions, and enrich himself. On
becoming duke or hereditary prince, with half a million or a million
of revenue from his estate, he