Why Did Napoleon Say Success Makes the Great Man?

David Senra, reading Napoleon's 1816 letter to the British in The Mind of Napoleon, says success makes the great man because Napoleon judged people only by the results of their actions. He applied that test to George Washington.

The letter says the British called Washington a leader of rebels for a long time and refused to acknowledge either him or the independence of his country. Washington's success obliged them to change their minds and acknowledge both. The same claim returns in slightly different words. Be successful, because the judgment is the result of the actions.

The jokes about the English around the letter are not the point. Results forced the change of mind.