text:  It has become the custom of later years to deny him even superiority of intellect; but the man who in a contest open to all goes before all--who converts a republic with all its ardour haughtiness and passion into a monarchy at once as rigid and as magnificent as an Oriental despotism--who in a country of warriors makes himself the leading warrior--who among the circle within circle of the subtlest political intrigues baffles all intrigues converts them into the material of his own ascendency and makes the subtlest and the boldest spirits his instruments and slaves--has given sufficient evidence of the superiority of his talents