the refusal was compensated for by the grant of some other favour. If any officer had a confession to make to Napoleon, the Emperor was always ready to hear him, and would listen to him in a paternal manner."
It was one of the curiosities of this extraordinary temperament, that even in the midst of his campaigns Napoleon insisted on doing the work, and it might even be said, all the work, of civil administration at home. His Ministers had to write to him every day; he answered all their reports, and a constant succession of messengers were kept busy between him and Paris.
"Economical with his time, he calculated the moment of his departure so as to find himself at the head of his troops at the moment when his presence there became necessary. He would then proceed thither in his carriage in full speed. But even during this journey he did not remain idle, but busied himself in reading his despatches, and very often received reports from his generals and answered them forthwith . . . . By means of a lamp which was placed at the back of his carriage, and which lighted up the carriage during the night, he was able to work as though he had been in his work-room."
This picture of a great soldier on the way to a bloody battle-field, and to the tremendous issues of life and death, empire or disgrace, calmly reading the details of administration, is certainly
