268 MADAME DE STAEL AND NAPOLEON BONAPAETE. Emperor of Russia, " and yet you were superior at every point of attack.' " ' Sire/ replied General Savary, ' that is the art of war and the fruit of fifteen years of glory. It was the fortieth battle which the Emperor has directed.' '"That is true,' responded the Emperor of Russia; ' he is a great warrior. For my part, it was the first time that 1 ever saw fire. I have never had the pretension to measure myself with him.' " ' Sire, said Savary, ' when you have had his expe- rience, you will surpass him perhaps.' " ' I am going to back my capital,' said the Emperor of Russia ; ' I came to the succor of the Emperor of Ger- many ; he tells me he has had enough, and I have had enough too.' " How intoxicating such passages as these to national vanity ! No doubt, too, those little notes which he took care to write to Josephine after every battle, were handed about the palace, and repeated in the drawing-rooms of Paris. " My dear," he wrote in July, 1807, " the Queen of Prussia dined with me yesterday. I had to defend myself, for she wished to induce me to make some further concessions to her husband. But I was gallant, and did not depart from my policy." When disaster came, he knew how to communicate it in such a way that the news had the effect to rouse and inspire, rather than discourage. Nor did he hesitate, at critical moments, to deceive. His explanation of the battle of Waterloo seems to be a case in point. He says positively that " the battle was gained ; we held all the positions which the enemy occupied at the commence- ment of the action," and " successes still greater were assured for the next day. But," he adds, " all was lost ly a moment of panic terror." Such are the famous bulletins of Napoleon Bonaparte.
