CHAP. XXIII.
How a Prince ought to avoid Flatterers.
I ought not to forget mentioning one evil against which princes should always be on their guard, and whieh they cannot avoid except by the greatest prudence, and this evil is the flattery which reigns in every court. Men have so much self-love, and so good an opinion of themselves, that it is very difficult for them to steer clear of such contagion; and besides, in endeavouring to avoid it, they run the risk of being despised.
For princes have no other of expelling flatterers than by shewing that the truth will not offend them. Yet if every one had the privilege of uttering his sentiments with impunity, what would become of the respect due to the majesty of the sovereign? A prudent prince ought to adopt a just medium in chusing wise men, to whom alone he shall permit the liberty of telling him the truth, but even that only on such subjects as he shall ask. He ought undoubtedly to interrogate them, to hear their opinions on every matter that concerns him; but to determine afterwards according to his own opinion, and so to conduct himself as to convince every one that the more freely they speak the more they please him. As to the remainder of his subjects, he ought not to listen to them, but pursue his own course without deviation[1] A prince who acts otherwise, either loses himself in listening to flatterers, or by a wavering conduct loses all respect and consideration. I will cite in support of this doctrine an instance from the history of our own times. Father Luke said of the Emperor Maximilian, his master, now on the throne, that "he never took counsel of any person, and notwithstanding this he never acted from an opinion of his own," and herein he adopted method diametrically opposite to that which I have traced out. For as this prince never confided his designs to any of his ministers, their observations came at the very moment only when they ought to be executed; so that, pressed by the exigencies of the moment, and overwhelmed with obstacles and contrarieties which he had not foreseen, he yielded to whatever opinions his ministers might offer. Now I would ask what dependance can be placed on a prince who undoes to-day what he did yesterday?
A prince ought always to ask advice, but only when it pleases himself and not when it pleases others, so that no one shall presume to give him advice when he does not request it : he ought to be very inquisitive, and to listen with attention;
and if he perceives that any one hesitates to tell him every thing, he ought to evince his displeasure ạt it.
We most grossly deceive ourselves if we imagine that a prince will be less esteemed because he ļistens to the counsel of another, and is therefore incapable of judging by what he sees himself, For a prince who does not possess an intelligent mind can never be well advised, unless he has the good fortune to meet with an able minister, on whom he may repose the whole cares of government: but in this case he runs a great risk of seeing himself despoiled of his states by the very person to whom hẹ has so indiscreetly confided his authority. And if instead of one counsellor he has several, how can he, ignorant and uninformed as he is, conciliate the various and opposite opinions of those ministers, who are probably more intent on their own interests than those of the state, and that without his suspecting it?
Besides, men being naturally wickęd, incline to good only when they are compelled to it: from whence we may conclude that good counsels, given by and from whom they may, are only owing to the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince to the goodness of the counsels.
- ↑ This note and the following were written in the spring of 1809: they are not given as prophecies after the event, but as strongly mdicative of the truth of the system I have unfolded in the Introduction. "Though, from the high strain of hyperbole observable in all the addresses to Buonaparte, we may reasonably infer that he is not averse to fattery, yet we are without a single instance wherein he has suffered lhis reason to be intoxicated by its incense. He receives it as a matter of course, and pursues with steadiness the path that reason dictates: he chuses counsellors whom all the world acknowledge to possess superior minds: nor can a single instance be adduced where he has committed the fate of an army or of a diplomatic mission to the hauds of imbecility. "The Machiavelli of the preseut age, the Ex-Bishop of Autun is his constant attendant and adviser in all matters of inportance; and the Abhè Seyies, though sub rosa, is always at hand when wanted. Buonaparte performs his course steadily, surveys the future in the mirror of the past, aud, with a facility peculiar only to great miuds, adapts all his ideas to circumstances, and seldom fails to seize the critical moment propitious to his design. Hence we see him daily perform prodigies of celerity, prouptitude, and decision. Hic et ubique is his motto: he crushes one kingdom, and while another is congratulating itself on his being too remote, exhausted, and obliged to pause; in the midst of her reverie, Buonaparte assails and overwhelms her. This has been his conduct with the northern powers, and at the moment I write this he is pursuing the same measures. He has crushed the ricketed child of patriotism in Spain, and Austria is about to feel his vengeance. Humbled and degraded Francis, how accurately has Machiavelli, in the latter part of this chapter, pourtrayed thee and thy council of war!"