that were they even to incur his displeasure by recommending him to
stop, he would not be the less certain to advance. As it was necessary
to incur fresh dangers, they preferred meeting them with an appearance
of good-will. They found it more convenient to be wrong with him, than
right against him.

But there was one individual, who, not content with approving his
design, encouraged it. Prompted by a culpable ambition, he increased
Napoleon's confidence, by exaggerating the force of his division. For
after incurring so many fatigues, unaccompanied by danger, it was a
great merit in those chiefs who preserved the greatest number of men
around their eagles. The emperor was thus gratified on his weak side,
and the time for rewards was approaching. In order to make himself more
agreeable, the individual in question boldly took upon himself to vouch
for the ardour of his soldiers, whose emaciated countenances but ill
accorded with the flattery of their leader. The emperor gave credit to
this ardour, because it pleased him, and because he only saw the
soldiers at reviews; occasions when his presence, the military pomp, the
mutual excitation produced by great assemblages, imparted fervor to the
mind; when, in short, all things, even to the secret orders of the
chiefs, dictated an appearance of enthusiasm.

But in fact it was only with his guard that he thus occupied his
attention. In the army, the soldiers complained of his non-appearance.
"They no longer saw him," they said, "except in days of battle, when
they had to die for him, but never to supply them with the means of
existence. They were all there to serve him, but he seemed no longer
there to serve them."

In this manner did they suffer and complain, but without sufficiently
considering that what they complained of was one of the inseparable
evils of the campaign. The dispersion of the various corps d'armee being
indispensable for the sake of procuring subsistence in these deserts,
that necessity kept Napoleon at a distance from his soldiers. His guard
could hardly find subsistence and shelter in his immediate
neighbourhood; the rest were out of his sight. It is true that many
imprudent acts had recently been committed; several convoys of
provisions belonging to other corps were on their passage daringly
retained at the imperial head-quarters, for the use of the guard, by
whose order is not known. This violence, added to the jealousy which
such bodies of men always