Soult tried to have himself elected king of Portugal，[66] and Bernadotte finds means to have himself elected king of Sweden. After Leipsic， Murat bargains with the allies， and， to retain his Neapolitan kingdom， he agrees to furnish a contingent against France； before the battle of Leipsic， Bernadotte is with the allies and fights with them against France. In 1814， Bernadotte and Joseph， each caring for himself， the former by intrigues and with the intriguers of the interior， also by feeling his way with the foreign sovereigns while the latter， in the absence of Napoleon， by "singular efforts" and "assiduities" beforehand with Marie Louise thinks of taking the place of the falling emperor.[67] Prince Eugene alone， or almost alone， among the great personalities of the reign， is really loyal， his loyalty remaining always intact exempt from concealed motives and above suspicion. Everywhere else， the coming crash or sinister rumors are heard or anticipated； alarm descends from high places， spreads through the army and echoes along the lines of the lowest ranks. In 1815， the soldier has full confidence in himself and in Napoleon； "but he is moody， distrustful of his other leaders. . . . Every march incomprehensible to him makes him uneasy and he thinks himself betrayed."[68] At Waterloo， dragoons that pass him with their swords drawn and old corporals shout to the Emperor that Soult and Vandamme， who are at this moment about going into battle， are haranguing their troops against him or deserting him； that General Dhénin， who has repulsed a charge of the enemy and whose thigh is fractured by a cannon-ball， has just passed over to the enemy. The mechanism which， for fifteen years， has worked so well， breaks down of itself through its own action； its cog-wheels have got out of gear； cracks show themselves in the metal which seemed so sound； the divinations of popular instinct verify this； the exaggerations of the popular imagination expand it and suddenly the whole machine rattles down to the ground.
All this is due to Napoleon having introduced into it the craving for success as central motor， as the universal main-spring， unscrupulous ambition， in short， a crude egoism， and in the first place his own egoism， [69] and this incentive， strained to excess，[70] puts the machine out of order and then ruins it. After him， under his successors， the same machinery is to work in the same manner， and break down in the same way， at the expiration of a more or less extensive period. Thus far， the longest of these periods has lasted less than twenty years.
_____________________________________________________________________Notes：
[1] Most of the French provinces down to the time of Richelieu still possessed a special representative body which consented to and levied the taxes； most of these bodies were supported by the all-powerful minister and replaced by intendants who， from that time on， administered， or rather exhausted， the country， divided into thirty-two generalities. A few provinces， however， Brittany， Burgundy， Languedoc， a part of Provence， Flanders， Artois， and some small districts in the Pyrenees kept their old representative body and were called pays d'état， whilst other provinces were designated， by a strange abuse of language， under the name of pays d'élection."(Translated from" Madame de Sta？l et son Temps，" vol. I.， p. 38.) TR.
[2] Cf. on the antiquity of this sort of mind， evident from the beginning of society and of French literature， my "History of English Literature，" vol. I.， and "La Fontaine et ses fables，" pp.10 to 13.
[3] In relation to this sentiment， read La Fontaine's fable of "The Rat and the Elephant." La Fontaine fully comprehended its social and psychological bearing. "To believe one's self an important personage is very common in France. . . . A childish vanity is peculiar to us.
The Spaniards are vain， but in another way. It is specially a French weakness."[4] Beugnot， "Mémoires，" I.， 317. "This equality which is now our dominant passion is not the noble kindly sentiment that affords delight by honoring one's self in honoring one's fellow， and in feeling at ease in all social relationships； no， it is an aversion to every kind of superiority， a fear lest a prominent position may be lost； this equality tends in no way to raise up what is kept down， but to prevent any elevation whatever."[5] D'Haussonville， "l'église romaine et le Premier Empire，" I.， chs X. and XI.
[6] Decree of March 17， 1808， on the organization of the Israelite cult. The members of the Israelite consistories and the rabbis must be accepted by the government the same as the ministers of the other cults； but their salary， which is fixed， must be provided by the Israelites of the conscription； the State does not pay this， the same as with curés or pastors. This is not done until under the monarchy of July， when the assimilation of the Israelite with the other Christian cults is effected.