[248] "The Emperor was very much dissatisfied with his conduct; and it is well for the King of Naples that he did not pass through France, where he would certainly have met with a very unfavourable reception."—Savary, tom. iii., p. 43.
[249] "Upon receiving the news that the King of Prussia had escaped, Napoleon regretted he had not treated him as he had done Ferdinand VII. and the Pope. 'This is not the first instance,' said he, 'that in politics, generosity is a bad counsellor.' He generous towards Prussia!!"—Fouché, tom. ii., p. 127.
[250] See Savary, tom. iii., p. 44.
"Sworn from his cradle Rome's relentless foe,
Such generous hate the Punic champion bore;
Thy lake, O Thrasymene, beheld it glow,
And Cannæ's walls and Trebia's crimson'd shore."
Shenstone.—S.
[252] "Blucher," said Napoleon, at St. Helena, "is a very brave soldier, un bon sabreur. He is like a bull who shuts his eyes, and, seeing no danger, rushes on. He committed a thousand faults; and, had it not been for circumstances, I could repeatedly have made him prisoner. He is stubborn and indefatigable, afraid of nothing, and very much attached to his country."—Napoleon in Exile, vol. i., p. 200.
[253] Fouché, tom. ii., p. 124.
[254] Fouché, tom. ii., p. 125.
[255] "As the Empress-Regent could not authorise, by her signature, the presentation of any senatus consultum, nor the promulgation of any law, the part she had to act was limited to her appearance at the council-board. Besides, she was herself under the tutorship of Cambacérès, who was himself directed by Savary. In fact, after the regency was set in motion, the soul of the government did not the less travel with Napoleon, who did not fail of issuing forth numerous decrees from all his moveable headquarters."—Fouché, tom. ii., p. 137.