olitical
beneficiaries, acting upon a superlative self-conceit, imbued him with
the belief that he had really rendered his country a service so
inestimable that it would be impossible for it to entirely liquidate it.
He exalted to unsuitable public offices his most intimate friends. They
grew suddenly exclusive and aristocratic, forming marriages with eminent
families.

"He traveled about the country with his entire family, at the expense of
the Government, to gradually prepare the people for the ostentation of
royalty. The cities and towns that he visited furnished fetes,
illuminations, parades and every variety of entertainment that could be
thought of or invented for his amusement or glorification. Lest the
parade might not be sufficiently gorgeous or demonstrative he secretly
sent agents to prepare the programme and size of his reception, always
at the expense of the city he intended to honor with his presence.

"He manifested a strong desire to subvert the will of the people to his
will. When informed that a measure he had proposed was unconstitutional,
he requested that the constitution be changed. His intimate friends he
placed in the most important and trustworthy positions under the
Government, and protected them with the power of his own office.

"Many things that were distasteful and unlawful in a free government
were flagrantly flaunted in the face of the people, and were followed by
other slow, but sure, approaches to the usurpation of the liberties of
the Nation. He urged the Government to double his salary as President,
and it complied.

"There had long existed a class of politicians who secretly desired to
convert the Republic into an Empire, that they might secure greater
power and opulence. They had seen in the deluded enthusiasm of the
people for one man, the opportunity for which they had long waited and
schemed. He was unscrupulous and ambitious, and power had become a
necessity to feed the cravings of his vanity.

"The Constitution of the country forbade the office of President to be
occupied by one man for more than two terms. The Empire party proposed
to amend it, permitting the people to elect a President for any number
of terms, or for life if they choose. They tried to persuade the people
that the country owed the greatest General of all time so distinctive an
honor. They even claimed that it was necessary to the preservation of
the Government; that his popularity could command an army to