te--Louis
XVIII's indignation--Prudent advice of the Abbe Andre--Letter from
Louis XVIII. to Bonaparte--Council held at Neuilly--The letter
delivered--Indifference of Bonaparte, and satisfaction of the
Royalists.

Perhaps one of the happiest ideas that ever were expressed was that of
the Athenian who said, "I appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober."
The drunkenness here alluded to is not of that kind which degrades a man
to the level of a brute, but that intoxication which is occasioned by
success, and which produces in the heads of the ambitious a sort of
cerebral congestion. Ordinary men are not subject to this excitement,
and can scarcely form an idea of it. But it is nevertheless true that
the fumes of glory and ambition occasionally derange the strongest heads;
and Bonaparte, in all the vigour of his genius, was often subject to
aberrations of judgment; for though his imagination never failed him, his
judgment was frequently at fault.

This fact may serve to explain, and perhaps even to excuse the faults
with which the First Consul has been most seriously reproached. The
activity of his mind seldom admitted of an interval between the
conception and the execution of a design; but when he reflected coolly on
the first impulses of his imperious will, his judgment discarded what was
erroneous. Thus the blind obedience, which, like an epidemic disease,
infected almost all who surrounded Bonaparte, was productive of the most
fatal effects. The best way to serve the First Consul was never to
listen to the suggestions of his first ideas, except on the field of
battle, where his conceptions were as happy as they were rapid. Thus,
for example, MM. Maret, de Champagny, and Savary evinced a ready
obedience to Bonaparte's wishes, which often proved very unfortunate,
though doubtless dictated by the best intentions on their part. To this
fatal zeal may be attributed a great portion of the mischief which
Bonaparte committed. When the mischief was done, and past remedy,
Bonaparte deeply regretted it. How often have I heard him say that Maret
was animated by an unlucky zeal! This was the expression he made use of.

M. de Talleyrand was almost the only one among the ministers who did not
flatter Bonaparte, and who really served both the First Consul and the
Emperor. When Bonaparte said to M. de Talleyrand, "Write so and so, and
send it off by a special courier," that minister was never in a hurry to
obey the order,