His genius is of the same stature and the same structure; he is one of the three sovereign minds of the Italian Renaissance.

Only, while the first two operated on paper and on marble, the latter operates on the living being, on the sensitive and suffering flesh of humanity.
***** [Footnote 1101: Reforms introduced by Napoleon after his coup d'etat 9 Nov.1799.

(SR.)] [Footnote 1102: The main authority is, of course, the "correspondance de l'Empereur Napoleon I.," in thirty-two-volumes.

This correspondance, unfortunately, is still incomplete, while, after the sixth volume, it must not be forgotten that much of it has been purposely stricken out.
"In general," say the editors (XVI., p.4), "we have been governed simply by this plain rule, that we were required to publish only what the Emperor himself would have given to the public had he survived himself, and, anticipating the verdict of time, exposed to posterity his own personality and system."-- The savant who has the most carefully examined this correspondence, entire in the French archives, estimates that it comprises about 80,000 pieces, of which 30,000 have been published in the collection referred to; passages in 20,000 of the others have been stricken out on account of previous publication, and about 30,000 more, through considerations of propriety or policy.

For example, but little more than one-half of the letters from Napoleon to Bigot de Preameneu on ecclesiastical matters have been published; many of these omitted letters, all important and characteristic, may be found in "L'Eglise romaine et le Premier Empire," by M.d'Haussonville.