was timid and passive; his will was regarded as that of an oracle and
executed without reflection.... Self-isolated from other men, having
concentrated in his own hands all powers and all action, thoroughly
convinced that another's light and experience could be of no use to him,
he thought that arms and hands were all that he required."]

[Footnote 1256: "Souvenirs", by Pasquier (Etienne-Dennis, duc),
chancelier de France. In VI volumes, Librarie Plon, Paris 1893. Vol I.
chap. IX. and X. pp. 225-268. (Admirable portraiture of his principal
agents, Cambaceres, Talleyrand, Maret, Cretet, Real, etc.) Lacuee,
director of the conscription, is a perfect type of the imperial
functionary. Having received the broad ribbon of the Legion d'Honneur,
he exclaimed, at the height of his enthusiasm: "what will not France
become under such a man? To what degree of happiness and glory will it
not ascend, always provided the conscription furnishes him with 200,000
men a year! And, indeed, that will not be difficult, considering the
extent of the empire."--And likewise with Merlin de Douai: "I never
knew a man less endowed with the sentiment of the just and the unjust;
everything seems to him right and good, as the consequences of a
legal text. He was even endowed with a kind of satanic smile which
involuntarily rose to his lips... every time the opportunity occurred,
when, in applying his odious science, he reached the conclusion that
severity is necessary or some condemnation." The same with Defermon, in
fiscal matters]

[Footnote 1257: Madame de Remusat, II., 278; II., 175.]

[Footnote 1258: Ibid., III., 275, II., 45. (Apropos of Savary, his most
intimate agent.): "He is a man who must be constantly corrupted."]

[Footnote 1259: Ibid., I., 109; II., 247; III., 366.]

[Footnote 1260: "Madame de Remusat," II., 142, 167, 245. (Napoleon's own
words.) "If I ordered Savary to rid himself of his wife and children, I
am sure he would not hesitate."--Marmont, II., 194: "We were at Vienna
in 1809. Davoust said, speaking of his own and Maret's devotion: "If
the Emperor should say to us both, 'My political interests require the
destruction of Paris without any one escaping,' Maret would keep the
secret, I am sure; but nevertheless he could not help letting it be
known by getting his own family out. I, rather than reveal it I would
leave my wife and children there." (These are bravado expressions, wordy
exaggerations, but significant.)]

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