the strong and is useful only to the mediocre . . . Ah, good taste! Another classic expression which I do not accept.' 'It is your personal enemy,' says Talleyrand to him one day; 'if you could have shot it away with bullets, it would have disappeared long ago.'"
XX.
HIS AGGRESSIVENESS.
His hatred for all the conventions of society comes out in his intercourse with other nations and other monarchs. His diplomacy was as different from that of all other times and men as anything else. His everlasting desire to command is unchecked for a moment by good feeling, good taste, any of the finer sensibilities which influence the ordinary man.
"His attitude, even at pacific interviews, remains aggressive, and militant; purposely or involuntarily he raises his hand, and the blow is felt to be coming, while, in the meantime, he insults. In his correspondence with Sovereigns, or in his official proclamations, in his deliberations with Ambassadors, and even at public audiences, he provokes, threatens, and defies; he treats his adversary with a lofty air, insults him often to his face, and loads him with the most disgraceful imputations; he divulges the secrets of his life in private, of his study, and of his bed; he defames
