"Oh, in Italy he was as great as any Moses! He was the right thing there, fit to head and organize measures for the regeneration of nations. It puzzles me to this day how the conqueror of Lodi should have condescended to become an emperor, a vulgar, a stupid humbug; and still more how a people who had once called themselves republicans should have sunk again to the grade of mere slaves. I despise France! If England had gone as far on the march of civilization as France did, she would hardly have retreated so shamelessly."

"It puzzles me how Napoleon should have condescended to become an emperor, a vulgar humbug; and still more how a people who had once called themselves republicans should have sunk again to the level of mere slaves. I despise France! 