CHAPTER XXXII.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN Two mighty and ambitious potentates never fully trust one another.
Under all the shows of diplomatic affection, there remains a thick rind of reserve or fear.

Especially must that be so with men who spring from a fierce untamed stock.

Despite the training of Laharpe, Alexander at times showed the passions and finesse of a Boyar.

And who shall say that the early Jacobinism and later culture of Napoleon was more than a veneer spread all too thinly over an Italian _condottiere_ of the Renaissance age?
These men were too expert at wiles really to trust to the pompous assurances of Tilsit and Erfurt.

De Maistre tells us that Napoleon never partook of Alexander's repasts on the banks of the Niemen.