One  nation  after  another  found  his  sway  intolerable;
and  his  resolve  to  maintain  it  at  all  points  was  un-
doubtedly the  main  cause  of  his  overthrow.  The
assertion  that  his  fall  was  due  to  the  jealousy  of  old
dynasties  for  d.  parvenu  is  too  superficial  to  call  for
notice.  He  had  several  opportunities  for  coming  to  a
compromise  with  the  Powers  satisfactory  both  to
France  and  himself;  but  he  let  them  slip.
In  the  domain  of  fact  all  this  is  fairly  clear.  But
from  our  standpoint,  that  of  character,  it  is  diffi-
cult to  explain  how  a  man  of  his  mental  acuteness
lost  those  opportunities.  At  St.  Helena  he  admitted
that  the  failure  to  make  peace  during  the  Congress  of


292  NAPOLEON

Ch&tillon  (March  1814)  was  une  lourde  sottise.  Yet
along  with  that  confession  he  expressed  a  fervent  wish
that  he  was  once  more  in  France ;  for  with  the  levies
of  1 8 16,  1817,  to  hand  he  would  have  100  regiments
of  infantry,  and  with  them  he  would  do  much.^  That
the  wish  should  come  side  by  side  with  the  confession
argues  a  nature  in  which  impulse  bears  sway  over  the
judgement.
