Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/70

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54
Napoleon.

"'He carefully cultivates all the bad passions . . . he is glad to find the bad side in a man, so as to get him in his power,' The thirst for money in Savary, the Jacobin defects in Fouché, the vanity and sensuality of Cambacérès, the careless cynicism and 'the easy immorality' of Talleyrand, the 'dry bluntness of Duroc,' the 'courtier-like insipidity of Maret,' 'the silliness' of Berthier; he brings this out, diverts himself with it, and profits by it. 'Where he sees no vice he encourages weaknesses, and in default of anything better, he provokes fear, so that he may be ever and continually the strongest. . . . He dreads ties of affection, and strives to alienate people from each other. . . . He sells his favours by arousing anxiety, and he thinks the best way to attach individuals to him is to compromise them, and often, even, to ruin them in public opinion.' 'If Caulaincourt is compromised,' said he, after the murder of the Due d'Enghien, 'it is no great matter; he will serve me all the better.'"

XXIII.

HIS HATRED OF INDEPENDENCE.

It is a necessary part of this horrible system that all Napoleon's Ministers must surrender all their independence of judgment; their one law must be his will and his interest.

"If his scruples arrest him, if he alleges