His aversion from taking the advice of others increased so that even
the subtle intriguers, Talleyrand and Fouche, were less and less
admitted to his confidence. The emperor would brook the appearance of
no actor on the French stage other than himself, although on that stage
during those crowded years there was too much for a single emperor,
albeit a master emperor, to do.
[Sidenote: 2. Defects of Militarism]
The second serious defect in the Napoleonic system was the fact that
its very foundation was military. What had enabled the National
Convention in the days of the Revolution's darkest peril to roll back
the tide of foreign invasion was the heroism and devotion of an
enthusiastic citizen soldiery, actuated by a solemn consciousness that
in a very literal sense they were fighting for their fields and
firesides, for the rights of men and of Frenchmen. They constituted
compact and homogeneous armies, inspired by the principles and words of
Rouget de Lisle's rousing battle hymn, and they smote the hired
troopers of the banded despots hip and thigh.
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