"
History is full, down to this day, of the imbecility of kings and
governors. They are a class of persons much to be pitied, for they
know not what they should do. The weavers strike for bread; and the
king and his ministers, not knowing what to do, meet them with bayonets.
But Napoleon understood his business. Here was a man who, in each
moment and emergency, knew what to do next. It is an immense comfort
and refreshment to the spirits, not only of kings, but of citizens.
Few men have any next; they live from hand to mouth, without plan, and
are ever at the end of their line, and, after each action, wait for
an impulse from abroad. Napoleon had been the first man of the world
if his ends had been purely public. As he is, he inspires confidence
and vigor by the extraordinary unity of his action. He is firm, sure,
self-denying, self-postponing, sacrificing everything to his
aim,--money, troops, generals, and his own safety also, to his aim;
not misled, like common adventurers, by the splendor of his own means.
"Incidents ought not to govern policy," he said, "but policy,
incidents." "To be hurried away by every event, is to have no political
system at all.
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