CHAPTER III.
THE ESTIMATE OF AN OFFICIAL[1]
So much for the estimate of Napoleon by an enemy and by a friend. Let us now take the more impartial estimate of a somewhat frigid official. While ready to do full justice to Napoleon's extraordinary genius as an administrator, Chancellor Pasquier had not Méneval's gift of admiration. Before giving those portions of Pasquier's memoirs which deal with Napoleon, I shall quote several passages of Pasquier's early life partly because they are intensely interesting in themselves, and partly because they help one to understand the secret of Napoleon's long tenure of power, by describing the anarchic con ditions to which his undisputed authority put an end.
I.
THE PASQUIER DYNASTY.
The Pasquiers had been a family of officials for generations. They belonged to that curious and
- ↑ "Memoirs of Chancellor Pasquier." Translated by Charles E. Roche. (London: Fisher Unwin.)
