33/58 I would not say that in a rostrum, but in a council of wise men and statesmen one ought to speak one's mind. I don't think that the French love liberty and equality: the French are not at all changed by ten years of revolution: they are what the Gauls were, fierce and fickle. They have one feeling--honour. We must nourish that feeling: they must have distinctions. See how they bow down before the stars of strangers."[161] After so frank an exposition of motives to his own Council of State, little more need be said. |