And yet when I am not set against him, I am not sure that I do not like him." He goes no further.

According to him, this indifference is necessary in a statesman.

The glass he looks through is that of his own policy;[1272] he must take care that it does not magnify or diminish objects .-- Therefore, outside of explosions of nervous sensibility, "he has no consideration for men other than that of a foreman for his workmen,"[1273] or, more precisely, for his tools; once the tool is worn out, little does he care whether it rusts away in a corner or is cast aside on a heap of scrap-iron.

"Portalis, Minister of Justice,[1274] enters his room one day with a downcast look and his eyes filled with tears.

'What's the matter with you, Portalis ?' inquired Napoleon, 'are you ill?
'No, sire, but very wretched.