[11] _Vide_ "Sentiment de Napoleon I. sur Le Christianisme," d'apres des temoignages recueillis par feu le Chevalier de Beauterne. Nouvelle edition, par M. ----; Bray, Paris, 1860. When Bentham, still speaking of public opinion, adds:-- "The power in question has, it is true, various degrees of influence. The strong are better able to put it at defiance than the weak. Countries which, being the most populous, are likely also to be the strongest, carry a certain support of public opinion with all their acts _whatever they may be_. But still it is the only power which can be moved to good purposes in this case; and, however high some may appear to be above it, there are in reality none who are not more or less subject to its influence." Here Bentham is again in imagination gathering men together like the flies of a summer,--the force of their opinion depending on their numbers. But what, again, is the force of all this buzzing if it is the mere expression of "pleasure," or "pain," of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the masses? Conquerors may not always be relentless, they may at times exhibit some sympathy with their fellow men; but as a rule they are so dominated by some one idea or passion, or at best are so absorbed in the interests of their own people, as to be deaf to such appeals. Prince Bismarck's sentiments towards France during the late war are pretty well known; but it is said that after the conflict was over, and when France was in the throes of its terrible internecine conflict, he was asked, "What is your Excellency's opinion of the present state of France?" he replied, "Das ist mit ganz wurst," which is equivalent to "I don't care two straws about it."[12] How are men of this stamp to be affected by any exclamations of pleasure or pain? If on the contrary it is the voice of reprobation which they hear, and if in their case the saying "vox populi vox Dei" is felt to have its full application, there is then a public opinion expressed which is calculated to strike the conscience and inspire terror, and that is quite another matter. [12] _Neue Freie Presse_ of Vienna. _Pall Mall Gazette_, May 4, 1871. De Tocqueville, from his own point of view, puts the argument in favour of natural justice very forcibly, and in a certain construction would express the identical truth for which I contend.