is a familiar example of this. His letters to Louis, as King of Holland, to Joseph, as King of Spain, to Jerome, as King of Westphalia, are marked by an amazing absolutism. "All feelings of State yield to State reasons," he sent word to Joseph. "I recognize as relatives only those who serve me. My fortune is not attached to the name of Bonaparte, but to that of Napoleon." As a rule, however, his letters to his family are as conspicuous for their common sense as for their despotism.
When he reached the point in his career where first as consul and then as Emperor he must direct the framing of a new code of laws for France, must organize schools, beautify the capitol, revive industries, his addresses to the councils and officials charged with the duties, show the same knowledge of the principles involved and the same attention to details which distinguish his military writings.
All of the extraordinary stories of Napoleon's capacity for work, of his teeming brain, his incessant invention, which one finds in the memoirs of his secretaries and associates, are fully justified by his ad-
