"Not if they impeded my plans!"
"Wait a bit, General; a moment ago you spoke of discipline, now it is yourself only of whom you are talking.... Very well, then I will give you an explanation.... It is true there was a gathering at Damanhour, and we generals, feeling discouraged after that first march, did question among ourselves the object of this expedition, thinking we detected personal ambition as that object rather than motives of public good; I said that, for the honour and glory of patriotism I would go all round the world, but if it were only just to satisfy your caprice, I would not go another step. What I said that evening I now repeat to your face, and if the sneak who reported my words to you said anything else than what I have told you he is worse even than a spy, he is a liar!"
Bonaparte looked at my father for a moment, then, almost affectionately, he said:
"And so, Dumas, you make a division in your mind: you place France on one side and me on the other. You think I separate her interests and fortunes from my own."
"I think that the interests of France ought to come before those of an individual, no matter how great that man may be.... I do not think that the fortunes of any nation should be subordinated to those of an individual."
"So you are ready to separate from me?"
"Yes, so soon as I am convinced that you are separating yourself from France."
"You are mistaken, Dumas," Bonaparte replied coldly.
"Quite possibly," replied my father; "but I disapprove of dictatorships—whether those of Sulla or of Cæsar."