A diplomat, who often saw him and studied him under all as aspects, sums up his character in one conclusive phrase: "He considered himself an isolated being in this world, made to govern and direct all minds as he pleased."[1253] Hence, whoever has anything to do with him, must abandon his independence and become his tool of government.
"That terrible man," often exclaimed Decres[1254] "has subjugated us all! He holds all our imaginations in his hands, now of steel and now of velvet, but whether one or the other during the day nobody knows, and there is no way to escape from them whatever they seize on they never let go!" Independence of any kind, even eventual and merely possible, puts him in a bad mood; intellectual or moral superiority is of this order, and he gradually gets rid of it;[1255] toward the end he no longer tolerates alongside of him any but subject or captive spirits.

His principal servants are machines or fanatics, a devout worshipper, like Maret, a gendarme, like Savary,[1256] ready to do his bidding.

From the outset, he has reduced his ministers to the condition of clerks; for he is administrator as well as ruler, and in each department he watches details as closely as the entire mass.

Accordingly, he requires simply for head of departments active pen pushers, mute executors, docile and special hands, no need for honest and independent advisers.
"I should not know what to do with them," he said, "if they were not to a certain extent mediocre in mind and character." As to his generals, he admits himself that "he likes to award fame only to those who cannot stand it." In any event, "he must be sole master in making or unmaking reputations," according to his personal requirements.
Too brilliant a soldier would become too important; a subordinate should never be tempted to be less submissive.

To this end he studies what he will omit in his bulletins, what alterations and what changes shall be made in them.
"It is convenient to keep silent about certain victories, or to convert the defeat of this or that marshal into a success.