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I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.

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There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors - a noble motto, "I serve". Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

It's inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you, a successor to the kings and queens of history.

There is no man more pusillanimous than I when I am planning a campaign. I purposely exaggerate all the dangers and all the calamities that the circumstances make possible. I am in a thoroughly painful state of agitation. This does not keep me from looking quite serene in front of my entourage; I am like an unmarried girl laboring with child. Once I have made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success.

Posterity will talk of Washington as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolution.

The people excited by ambitious demagogues, sooner or later return into the hands of the Aristocracy.