Benevolent actions performed by the Emperor.—His visit to Amsterdam.—Observations on the Dutch, &c.—The Massacres of the third of September.—Remarks on Revolutions in general.—Unhappy fate of Louis XVI.

3d. About three o’clock the Emperor sent for me to attend him in his chamber.  He had just finished dressing ;  and as it was raining at the time, he went into the drawing-room, where he communicated to me some very curious particulars, which, as may be supposed, concerned him, and in which I played a conspicuous part......................

Some time afterwards the Emperor took a turn on the lawn next his library ;  but, finding the wind very violent, he soon returned to the house and played at billiards, a thing which he very seldom thought of doing.

In the course of the day, the Emperor related, that as he was once travelling with the Empress, he stopped to breakfast in one of the islands of the Rhine.  There was a small farm in the neighbourhood, and while he was at breakfast he sent for the peasant to whom it belonged, and desired him to ask boldly for whatever he thought would render him happy ;  and in order to inspire him with the greater confidence, the Emperor made him drink several glasses of wine.  The peasant, who was more prudent and less circumscribed in his choice, than the man described in the story of the three wishes, without hesitation specified the object which he was ambitious to possess.  The Emperor commanded the prefect of the district immediately to provide him with what he had made choice of, and the expense attending the gratification of his wish did not exceed 6 or 7000 francs.

Napoleon added, that on another occasion, when he was sailing in a yacht in Holland, he entered into conversation with the steersman, and asked him how much his vessel was worth.  “My vessel !” said the man, “it is not mine ;  I should be too happy if it were, it would make my fortune.”— “Well, then,” said the Emperor, “I make you a present of it;” a favour for which the man seemed not particularly grateful.  His indifference was imputed to the phlegmatic temperament natural to his countrymen ;  but this was not the case.  “What benefit has he conferred on me ?” said he to one of his comrades who was congratulating him ;  “he has spoken to me, and that is all ;  he has given me what was not his own to give—a fine present truly !” In the mean time Duroc had purchased the vessel of the owner, and the receipt was put into the hands of the steersman, who, no longer doubting the reality of his good fortune, indulged in the most extravagant demonstrations of joy.  The expense of this purchase was about the same as that attending the present made to the countryman.  “Thus,” said the Emperor, “it is evident that human wishes are not so immoderate as they are generally supposed, and that it is not so very difficult to render people happy !  These two men undoubtedly enjoyed perfect happiness.”

When the Emperor visited Amsterdam, the people, he said, were very hostile to him ;  but he soon completely ingratiated himself in the public favour.  He declined being attended by any other guard than the guard of honour belonging to the city ;  and this mark of confidence immediately gained him the esteem of the Dutch.  He constantly appeared among every class of citizens.  On one occasion he addressed a crowd of people in the following blunt manner :— “It is said that you are discontented—but why ?  France has not conquered, but adopted you :  you are excluded from no benefits which are enjoyed by the French ;  you are a portion of the same family, and participate in all its advantages.  Consider now :  I have selected my Prefects ;  Chamberlains, and Counsellors of State from amongst you in a just proportion to the amount of your population, and I have augmented my guard with your Dutch guard.  You complain of distress ;  but, in this respect, France has still greater reason to be dissatisfied.  We all suffer, and we must continue to do so until the common enemy, the tyrant of the sea, the vampire of your trade, shall be brought to reason.  You complain of the sacrifices you have made ;  but come to France and see all that you still possess beyond what we do, and then, perhaps, you will deem yourselves less unfortunate........ Why not rather congratulate yourselves on the circumstances that have brought about your union with France.  In the present state of Europe, what would you be, if left to yourselves ?— “The slaves of all the world.  Instead of which, identified as you are with France, you will one day possess the whole trade of the great Empire.”  Then assuming a tone of gaiety, he said :— “I have done every thing in my power to please you.  Have I not sent you as a Governor precisely the man who suits you—the good and pacific Lebrun.  You condole with him, he condoles with you :  you bewail your distresses together.  What more could I do for you ?” At these words the assembly burst into a loud fit of laughter.  The Emperor had secured the good graces of the multitude.— “However,” said he, “let us hope that the present state of things will not last long.  Believe me, I am as anxious for a change as you can be.  Every man of discernment among you must be aware that it is neither my wish, nor for my interest, that matters should remain as they now are.”

The Emperor left the people of Amsterdam full of enthusiasm for him ;  and he, on his part, carried away impressions decidedly in their favour.  Previously to his journey he had often complained, that whosoever he sent to Holland, immediately became a Dutchman.  After his return, that circumstance occurred to his recollection in the Council of State, and he said that he had himself become a Dutchman.  One day, when a member of the Council spoke slightingly of the Dutch, the Emperor said, “Gentlemen, you may be more agreeable than they ;  but I can wish you nothing better than to be possessed of their moral qualities.”

After dinner, on the 3d of September, some one happened to mention the date of the day ;  upon which the Emperor made some very remarkable observations ;  among which were the following :—

“ This,” said he, “is the anniversary of horrid and appalling executions, of a re-action, in miniature, of Saint-Bartholomew’s day :  less disgraceful, certainly, because fewer victims were sacrificed, and because the atrocities were not committed under the sanction of the Government, which, on the contrary, used its endeavours to punish the crime.  It was committed by the mob of Paris ;  an unbridled power, which rivalled, and even controlled, the Legislature.

“ The atrocities of the 3d of September were the result of fanaticism rather than of absolute brutality :  the authors of the massacres put to death one of their own party, for having committed theft during the executions.  This dreadful event,” continued the Emperor, “arose out of the force of circumstances, and the spirit of the moment.  No political change ever takes place unattended by popular fury ;  the people are never exposed to danger, without committing disorders and sacrificing victims.  The Prussians entered the French territory ;  and the people, before they advanced to meet them, resolved to take revenge on their adherents in Paris.  Probably, this circumstance was not without its influence on the safety of France.  Who can doubt that if, during recent events, the friends of the invaders had been the victims of similar horrors, France would have fallen under the yoke of foreigners ?  But this could not have happened, for we had become legitimate.  The duration of authority, our victories, our treaties, the re-establishment of our old manners, had rendered our government regular.  We could not plunge into the same horrors, as had been committed by the mob :  for my part, I neither could nor would become a King of the Jacquerie.

“ No social revolution ever takes place unaccompanied by violence.  Every revolution of this kind is at first merely a revolt.  Time and success alone can exalt and legitimatize it ;  but still it can never be brought about unattended by outrage.  If people enjoying authority and fortune are required to relinquish these advantages, they of course resist :  force is then resorted to ;  they are compelled to yield.  In France this point was gained by the lanthern and public executions.  The reign of terror commenced on the 4th of August, with the abolition of titles of nobility, tithes, and feudal rights, the wrecks of which were scattered among the multitude, who then, for the first time, understood and felt really interested in the Revolution.  Before this period there was so much of dependance and religious spirit among the people, that many doubted whether the harvest could be gathered in without the King and the tithes.

“ A revolution,” concluded the Emperor, “is one of the greatest evils by which mankind can be visited.  It is the scourge of the generation by whom it is brought about ;  and all the advantages it procures cannot make amends for the misery with which it embitters the lives of those who participate in it.  It enriches the poor, who still remain dissatisfied ;  and it impoverishes the rich, who cannot forget their downfall.  It subverts every thing ;  and, at its commencement, brings misery to all and happiness to none.

“ Beyond a doubt, true social happiness consists in the harmony and the peaceful possession of the relative enjoyments of each class of people.  In regular and tranquil times, every individual has his share of felicity :  the cobler in his stall is as content as the king on his throne ;  the soldier is not less happy than the general.  The best-founded revolutions, at the outset, bring universal destruction in their train ;  the advantages they may produce are reserved for a future age.  Ours seems to have been an irresistible fatality :  it was a moral eruption, which could no more be prevented than a physical eruption.  When the chemical combinations necessary to produce the latter are complete, it bursts forth :  in France the moral combinations which produce a revolution had arrived at maturity, and the explosion accordingly took place.”

We asked the Emperor, whether he thought it would have been possible to suppress the Revolution in its birth ;  and he replied, that, if not impossible, the attempt would at least have been difficult.  “Perhaps,” said he, “the storm might have been laid or averted by some great Machiavellian act ;  by striking with one hand the great ringleaders, and with the other making concessions to the nation, granting freely the reformation required by the age, part of which had already been mentioned in the famous royal sitting.  And yet, after all,” he observed, “this would only have been to guide and direct the Revolution.”  He thought that some other plan of the same kind might perhaps have succeeded on the 10th of August, if the King had remained triumphant.  “These two periods,” he said, “were the only ones which afforded any chance, however desperate ;  for at the affair of Versailles the people had not yet entirely shaken off their allegiance, and on the 10th of August they were already beginning to be tired of disorder.  But the individuals who were chiefly interested in quelling the revolutionary spirit were not adequate to encounter the difficulties of the moment.”

The Emperor then took a rapid glance at the series of errors committed during this period.  The line of conduct then pursued,” said he, “was truly pitiable.  Louis XVI. should have had a prime minister, and M. Necker in the finance department.  Prime ministers seem to have been invented for the last reigns of the French monarchy ;  and yet the prevailing false notions and vanity of the time caused them to be dispensed with.”

A great deal was said respecting the equivocal conduct of several great personages during this critical period, and the Emperor said :  “We condemn Louis XVI.;  but, independently of his weakness, he was placed in peculiar circumstances.  He was the first monarch on whom the experiment of modern principles was tried.  His education, his innate opinions, led him to believe that all that he defended, either openly or secretly, belonged to him of right.  There might be a sort of honesty even in his want of faith, if I may be permitted to say so.  At a subsequent period, the same conduct would have been inexcusable, and even reprehensible.  Add to all this, that Louis XVI. had every one against him, and one may form an idea of the innumerable difficulties which fate had accumulated on that unhappy prince.  The misfortunes of the Stuarts, which have excited such deep interest, were not more severe.”

The Body Guard of the King of France.—A Deserter in the Emperor’s suite.

4th.—The Emperor, sent for me after he had finished his breakfast.  He was stretched on a sofa, with several books scattered about him.  He wore his night-cap, and he looked pale.  “Las-Cases,” said he, “I am unwell.  I have been looking over a great many books, but I can find nothing to interest me.  I feel wearied.”  He fixed his eye on me ;  that eye, naturally so animated, was now dim, and its expression told me more than his tongue had uttered.  “Sit down,” said he, pointing to a chair that was beside him loaded with books, “and let us converse a little.”  He spoke of the Island of Elba, of the life he had led there, of some visits which he had received, &c.  He then put some questions to me concerning Paris and the French court during the corresponding period.  The conversation having led to the mention of the King’s body-guard, some one present remarked, as a curious circumstance, that there was a deserter from the guard in Napoleon’s suite at Saint-Helena.  “How ? explain yourself,” said the Emperor. —“Sire,” continued the individual who had just spoken, “at the time of the restoration, one of the captains of the guard, for whom I entertained great friendship, and who, in spite of the difference of our opinions, had always evinced a high regard for me, proposed to enter my son in his company, assuring me that he would treat him as though he were his own.  I replied, that he was too young, and that the appointment might retard the progress of his education ;  but my friend silenced all my objections.  I however requested some time to consider of the matter ;  and on my mentioning it to some persons of my acquaintance, they were astonished that I should have declined so good an offer, and assured me that in a short time my son might attain great advancement, without any interruption of his education.  I then waited on the captain of the guard, and acknowledged that I had not shewn myself sufficiently grateful for his offer ;  and he replied that he was fully aware I had not understood the extent of the advantage he proposed to me.  However, by one circumstance or another, your Majesty returned before my son had the honour of being presented to his colonel, and as I took him from his Lyceum on our departure for Saint-Helena, he is clearly and truly a deserter.”  The Emperor laughed heartily and said :  “This is another effect of revolutions !  What new interests, connexions, and opinions do they create !  It is fortunate when they do not disunite families, and set the best friends at variance with each other.”  He then began to question me concerning my family, and concluded by saying, “I saw in Alphonse de Beauchamp’s work, your name mentioned among the individuals, who, on the 30th of March, endeavoured to excite demonstrations in favour of the royal family in the Place Louis XV.  I know it was not you ;  I think you once explained the matter to me, but I have forgotten the particulars.” —“Sire,” said I, “it was a cousin of mine, of the same name.  The circumstance vexed me a good deal at the time ;  I inserted contradictions in the journals ;  and it was rather droll that my cousin, on his part, addressed letters to the public prints, desiring that he might be particularly specified as the individual alluded to.  I believe that the general way in which the name was introduced, in Alphonse de Beauchamp’s work, was kindly meant on the part of the author, who wished, by this means, to afford me an opportunity of ingratiating myself in the favour of the ruling party, if I had a mind to do so.  I must do my cousin the justice to say, that when I obtained an appointment about your Majesty’s person, I several times offered to solicit for him a post in your household or elsewhere ;  but this he constantly declined.  I wish he may now enjoy the reward of his fidelity.”  The Emperor again repeated that all private interests were subverted by revolutions.  “And it is these private wounds,” said he, “which occasion the general ferment, and render the shocks so acute and violent.”

The weather was so bad throughout the whole of the day, that it was impossible to go out.  The Emperor dismissed me, and sent for General Gourgaud, to whom he dictated in his library, from two to six o’clock, almost the whole of Moreau’s campaign during the Consulate.  After dinner he read to us Madame de Maintenon’s celebrated sumptuary letter to her brother, in which she fixes her household-expenditure at six francs a-year.  The Emperor had several volumes of the Grands Hommes brought to him, and after perusing some articles, he amused himself by looking at the outline portraits that are at the end of each volume.

Napoleon’s Reproofs, &c.—The Governor bargains for our Existence.

5th.—To-day, in the course of my morning conversation with the Emperor, I happened to mention some acts of oppression and injustice, which excited dissatisfaction in the public mind, and rendered him unpopular, because they were executed in his name, and were by many supposed to emanate from him.  “But how ?” said he, “was there no one among the multitude that surrounded me, none of my chamberlains, who had sufficient spirit and independence to complain and bring these matters to my knowledge ?  I would have rendered justice wherever it had been withheld.” —“Sire, few would have ventured to call your attention to these things.”— “Did you really stand so much in awe of me ?  I suppose you dreaded my sharp rebuffs ;  but you ought to have known that I always lent a ready ear to every one, and that I never refused to administer justice.  You should have balanced the reward of the good action, with the danger of the reprimand.  After all, I confess, that my reproofs were in most instances the result of calculation.  They were frequently the only means I possessed of learning man’s temper, of discovering, by stealth, the different shades of his character.  I had little time for inquiry ;  and a reprimand was one of my experiments.  For example, I lately gave you a repulse, and this enabled me to discover that you were somewhat headstrong, extremely susceptible, sufficiently candid, but sullen ;  and, I may say, too sensitive,” he added, pinching my ear.  “I was,” continued he, “obliged to surround myself, as it were, with a halo of fear ;  otherwise, having risen as I did from amidst the multitude, many would have made free to eat out of my hand, or to pat me on the shoulder.  We are naturally inclined to familiarity.”

The weather continued very bad, and the Emperor spent the chief part of the day in writing, as he did yesterday.

The Governor has renewed his cavilling on the subject of our supplies, descending into petty details about a few bottles of wine, or a few pounds of meat.  Instead of eight thousand pounds, the sum fixed by Government, he now applied for an allowance of twelve thousand, which he himself declared to be indispensable ;  but he insisted on having the surplus delivered into his own hands, or subjecting us to great retrenchments.  He bargained for our existence.  When this was mentioned to the Emperor, he replied, that the Governor might do as he pleased ;  but he desired, at all events, that he might not be troubled about the business.

In the evening the conversation again turned on Madame de Maintenon, and the Emperor made many remarks on her letters, her character, her influence on the affairs of her time, &c.  He asked for the Historical Dictionary to read the articles on the Noailles family ;  and he retired to rest at eleven o’clock.

Confidential conversation.—The Letters of Madame de Maintenon and Sevigné.

6th.—The weather proved as bad as it had been on the preceding day.  After finishing his toilette, the Emperor retired to his library, attended by one of his suite, with whom he held a long confidential conversation on a topic intimately concerning us.

“ We have now,” said he, “been at Saint Helena more than a year, and with regard to certain points we remain just as we were on the first day of our arrival.  I must confess that I have hitherto come to no determination in my own mind upon these subjects.  This is very unlike me ;  but how many mortifications have I to encounter ?  A victim to the persecutions of Fate and man, I am assailed on every side, and at all hands.  Even you, my faithful friends and consolers, help to lacerate the wound.  I am vexed and distressed by your jealousies and dissensions.” —“Sire,” replied the individual to whom he addressed himself, “these things should remain unnoticed by your Majesty.  In all that concerns you, our jealousy is merely emulation ;  and all our dissension ceases on the expression of your slightest wish.  We live only for you, and will always be ready to obey you.  To us you are the Old Man of the Mountain ;  you may command us in all things, except crime.”— “Well,” said the Emperor, “I will think seriously of the subject I have just alluded to, and each shall have his own particular task.”  He dictated a few notes, and afterwards went down to the garden, where he walked about for a short time alone, and then withdrew to his own apartment.  The Emperor did not quit his chamber until the moment dinner was announced.  He resumed his remarks on Madame de Maintenon, whose letters he had been reading.  “I am charmed,” said he, “with her style, her grace, and the purity of her language.  If I am violently offended by what is bad, I am at the same time exquisitely sensible to what is good.  I think I prefer Madame de Maintenon’s letters to those of Madame de Sevigné :  they tell more.  Madame de Sevigné will certainly always remain the true model of the epistolary style ;  she has a thousand charms and graces, but there is this defect in her writings, that one may read a great deal of them without retaining any impression of what one has read.  They are like a dish of egg snow-balls, of which a man may eat till he is tired without overcharging his stomach.”

The Emperor then made some observations on grammar.  He asked for the grammar of Domairon, who had been our professor at the military school at Paris.  He glanced through it with evident pleasure.  “Such is the influence of youthful impressions,” said he ;  “I suspect that Domairon’s is not the best of grammars, yet to me it will always be the most agreeable.  I shall never open it without experiencing a certain pleasure.”

Errors of the English ministers.—Means of which England might have availed herself for the liquidation of her debt.—The Governor’s reductions.

7th.—The Emperor remained within doors the whole of the day.  The Governor appeared on the grounds accompanied by a numerous group ;  but we fled at his approach.  Several vessels have been observed out at sea.

I was summoned to attend the Emperor, and I found him engaged in perusing a work on the state of England.  This became the subject of conversation ;  the Emperor said a great deal respecting the enormous national debt of England, the disadvantageous peace she had concluded, and the different means by which she might have extricated herself from her difficulties.

Napoleon possesses in an eminent degree the instinct of order and harmony.  I once knew a man, who, being much engaged in arithmetical calculations, confessed that he could not enter a drawing-room without being led irresistibly to count the people who were in it ;  and that when he sat down to table he could not help summing up the number of plates, glasses, &c.  Napoleon, though in a more elevated sphere, has also an irresistible habit of his own, which is to develope the brand and the beautiful in every subject that comes under his attention.  If he happens to converse about a city, he immediately suggests improvements and embellishments ;  if a nation be the object of his consideration, he expatiates on the means of promoting her glory, prosperity, useful institutions, &c.  Many of his observations, that have already been noted down, must have rendered this fact obvious to the reader.

Either the contents of the journals and other publications of the day, or the nature of our situation here, occasioned the Emperor’s attention to be constantly directed to the state of England.  He frequently adverted to what she ought to have done, as well as to that which she still had to do, and which might render her future condition more prosperous.  I subjoin here a few of the observations on this subject, which escaped him at various times :—

“ The Colonial system,” said he one day, “ is now at an end for all ;  for England, who possesses every colony, and for the other powers, who possess none.  The empire of the seas now belongs indisputably to England ;  and why should she, in a new situation, wish to continue the old routine course ?  Why does she not adopt plans that would be more profitable to her ?  She must look forward to a sort of emancipation of her colonies.  In course of time many will doubtless, escape from her do minion, and she should therefore avail herself of the present moment to obtain new securities and more advantageous connexions.  Why does she not propose that the majority of her colonies shall purchase their emancipation by taking upon themselves a portion of the general debt, which would thus become specially theirs.  The mother-country would by this means relieve herself of her burthens, and would nevertheless preserve all her advantages.  She would retain, as pledges, the faith of treaties, reciprocal interests, similitude of language, and the force of habit ;  she might moreover reserve, by way of guarantee, a single fortified point, a harbour for her ships, after the manner of the factories on the coast of Africa.... What would she lose ?  Nothing ;  and she would spare herself the trouble and expense of an administration which, too often, serves only to render her odious.  Her ministers, it is true, would have fewer places to give away ;  but the nation would certainly be no loser.

“ I doubt not,” added he, “ that, with a thorough knowledge of the subject, some useful result might be derived from the ideas which I have just thrown out, however erroneous they may be in their first hasty conception.  Even with regard to India, great advantages might be obtained by the adoption of new systems.  The English who are here, assure me that England derives nothing from India in the balance of her trade :  the expenses swallow up or even exceed the profits.  It is therefore merely a source of individual advantage, and of a few private fortunes of colossal magnitude ;  but these are so much food for ministerial patronage, and therefore good care is taken not to meddle with them.  Those nabobs, as they are styled, on their return to England, are useful recruits to the aristocracy.  It signifies not that they bear the disgrace of having acquired fortunes by rapine and plunder, or that they exercise a baneful influence on public morals by exciting in others the wish to gain the same wealth by the same means :  the present ministers are not so scrupulous as to bestow a thought on such matters.  These men give them their votes ;  and the more corrupt they are, the more easily are they controlled.  In this state of things, where is the hope of reform ?  Thus, on the least proposition of amendment, what an outcry is raised !  The English aristocracy is daily taking a stride in advance ;  but as soon as there is any proposal for retrograding, were it only for the space of an inch, a general explosion takes place.  If the minutest details be touched, the whole edifice begins to totter.  This is very natural.  If you attempt to deprive a glutton of his mouthful, he will defend himself like a hero.”

On another occasion the Emperor said :—

“ After a twenty years’ war, after the blood and treasures that were lavished in the common cause, after a triumph beyond all hope, what sort of peace has England concluded ?  Lord Castlereagh had the whole Continent at his disposal, and yet what advantage, what indemnity has he secured to his own country ?  He has signed just such a peace as he would have signed had he been conquered.  I should not have required him to make greater sacrifices had I been victorious.  But, perhaps, England thought herself sufficiently happy in having effected my overthrow ; ... in that case, hatred has avenged me !  During our contest, England was animated by two powerful sentiments ;  her national interest and her hatred of me.  In the moment of triumph, the violence of the one caused her to lose sight of the other.  She has paid dearly for that moment of passion ! ”

He developed his idea, glancing at the different measures which skewed the errors committed by Castlereagh, and the many advantages he had neglected.

“ Thousands of years will roll away,” said he, “ before there occurs such another opportunity of securing the welfare and real glory of England.  Was it ignorance, or corruption, on the part of Castlereagh ?  He distributed the spoil generously, as he seemed to think, among the Sovereigns of the Continent, and reserved nothing for his own country ;  but, in so doing, did he not fear the reproach of being considered as the agent rather than the partner of the Holy Allies ?  He gave away immense territories ;  Russia, Prussia, and Austria acquired millions of population.  Where is the equivalent to England ?  She, who was the soul of all this success, and who paid so dearly for it, now reaps the fruit of the gratitude of the Continent, and of the errors or treachery of her negotiator.  My continental system is continued ;  and the produce of her manufactures is excluded.  Why not have edged round the Continent with free and independent maritime towns, such, for example, as Dantzic, Hamburgh, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Genoa, &c. which would of necessity have become the staples of her manufactures, and would have scattered them over Europe, in spite of all the duties in the world.  England possessed the right of doing this, and her circumstances required it ;  her decisions would have been just, and who would have opposed them at the moment of the liberation ?  Why did she create to herself a difficulty, and in course of time a natural enemy, by uniting Belgium to Holland, in stead of securing two immense resources for her trade, by keeping them separate ?  Holland, which has no manufactures of her own, would have been the natural depôt for English goods ;  and Belgium, which might have become an English colony governed by an English Prince, would have been the channel for dispersing these goods over France and Germany.  Why not have bound down Spain and Portugal by a commercial treaty of long duration, which would have repaid all the expenses incurred for their deliverance, and which might have been obtained under pain of the enfranchisement of their colonies, the trade of which, in either case, England would have commanded ?  Why not have stipulated for some advantages in the Baltic and the States of Italy ?  These would have been but the regular privileges attached to the dominion of the seas.  After so long a contest in support of this right, how happened its advantages to be neglected at the moment when it was really secured ?  Did England, while she sanctioned usurpation in others, fear that any opposition would have been offered to hers ?  and by whom could it have been offered ?  Probably England repents now, when it is too late ;  the opportunity cannot be recovered ;  she suffered the favourable moment to escape her !... How many whys and wherefores might I not multiply !.... None but Lord Castlereagh would have acted thus :  he made himself the man of the Holy Alliance, and in course of time he will be the object of execration.  The Landerdales, the Grenvilles, and the Wellesleys, would have pursued a very different course ;  they would at least have acted like Englishmen.”

At another time the Emperor said :—

“ The national debt is the worm that preys on England ;  it is the chain of all her difficulties.  It occasions the enormity of taxation, and this in its turn raises the price of provisions.  Hence the distress of the people, the high price of labour and of manufactured articles, which are not disposed of with equal advantage in the continental markets.  England then ought at all hazards to contend against this devouring monster ;  she should assail it on all sides, and at once subdue it negatively and positively, that is to say, by the reduction of her expenditure and the increase of her capital.

“ Can she not reduce the interest of her debt, the high salaries, the sinecures, and the various expenses attending her army establishment, and renounce the latter, in order to confine herself to her navy.  In short, many things might be done which I cannot now enter into.  With regard to the increase of her capital, can she not enrich herself with the ecclesiastical property, which is immense, and which she would acquire by a salutary reform, and by the extinction of titular dignities which would give offence to no one.  But if a word be uttered on this subject, the whole aristocracy is up in arms, and succeeds in putting down the opposition, for in England it is the aristocracy that governs, and for which the Government acts.  They repeat the favourite adage, that if the least stone of the old foundation be touched, the whole fabric will fall to the ground.  This is devoutly re-echoed by the multitude ;  consequently reform is stopped, and abuses are suffered to increase and multiply.

“ It is but just to acknowledge that in spite of a compound of odious, antiquated, and mean details, the English constitution presents the singular phenomenon of a happy and grand result ;  and the advantages arising out of it secure the attachment of the multitude, who are fearful of losing any of the blessings they enjoy.  But is it to the objectionable nature of the details that this result must be attributed ?  On the contrary, it would shine with increased lustre if the grand and beautiful machine were freed from its mischievous appendages.

“ England,” continued the Emperor, “ presents an example of the dangerous effects of the borrowing system.  I would never listen to any hints for the adoption of that system in France ;  I was always a firm opposer of it.  It was said at the time, that I contracted no loans for want of credit, and because I could find no one willing to lend ;  but this was false.  Those who know any thing of mankind and the spirit of stock-jobbing, will be convinced that loans may always be raised by holding out the chance of gain and the attraction of speculation.  But this was no part of my system, and by a special law, I fixed the amount of the public debt at what had generally been supposed to be conducive to the general prosperity, namely, at eighty millions for France in her utmost extent, and after the union with Holland, which in itself produced an augmentation of twenty millions.  This sum was reasonable and proper ;  a greater one would have been attended by mischievous consequences.  What was the result of this system ?  What resources have I left behind me ?  France, after so many gigantic efforts and terrible disasters, is now more prosperous than ever !  Her finances are the first in Europe !  To whom and to what are these advantages to be attributed ?  So far was I from wishing to swallow up the future, that I had resolved to leave a treasury behind me.  I had even formed one, the funds of which I lent to different banking-houses, embarrassed families, and the individuals who were about my person.

“ I should not only have carefully preserved the sinking fund, but I calculated on having, in course of time, surpluses which would have been constantly increasing, and which might have been actively applied for the furtherance of public works and improvements.  I should have had the fund of the Empire for general works ;  the fund of the departments for local works, and the fund of the communes for municipal works, &c.”

In the course of another conversation, the Emperor observed :—

“ England is said to traffic in every thing :  why, then, does she not sell liberty, for which she might get a high price, and without any fear of exhausting her own stock ;  for modern liberty is essentially moral, and does not betray its engagements.  For example, what would not the poor Spaniards give her to free them from the yoke to which they have been again subjected ?  I am confident they would willingly pay any price to recover their freedom.  It was I who inspired them with this sentiment ;  and the error into which I fell, might, at least, be turned to good account by another government.  As to the Italians, I have planted in their hearts principles that never can be rooted out.  What can England do better than to promote and assist the noble impulses of modern regeneration ?  Sooner or later, this regeneration must be accomplished.  Sovereigns and old aristocratic institutions may exert their efforts to oppose it, but in vain.  They are dooming themselves to the punishment of Sisyphus ;  but, sooner or later, some arm will tire of resistance, and then the whole system will fall to nothing.  Would it not be better to yield with a good grace ?—this was my intention.  Why does England refuse to avail herself of the glory and advantage she might derive from this course of proceeding ?  Every thing passes away in England as well as elsewhere.  Castlereagh’s administration will pass away, and that which may succeed it, and which is doomed to inherit the fruit of so many errors, may become great by only discontinuing the system that has hitherto been pursued.  He who may happen to be placed at the head of the English cabinet, has merely to allow things to take their course, and to obey the winds that blow.  By becoming the leader of liberal principles, instead of leaguing with absolute power, like Castlereagh, he will render himself the object of universal benediction, and England will forget her wrongs.  Fox was capable of so acting, but Pitt was not :  the reason is, that, in Fox, the heart warmed the genius ;  while, in Pitt, the genius withered the heart.  But it may be asked, why I, all-powerful as I was, did not pursue the course I have here traced out ?—how, since I can speak so well, I could have acted so ill ?  I reply to those who make this inquiry with sincerity, that there is no comparison between my situation and that of the English government.  England may work on a soil which extends to the very bowels of the earth ;  while I could labour only on a sandy surface.  England reigns over an established order of things ;  while I had to take upon myself the great charge, the immense difficulty of consolidating and establishing.  I purified a revolution, in spite of hostile factions.  I combined together all the scattered benefits that could be preserved ;  but I was obliged to protect them with a nervous arm, against the attacks of all parties ;  and in this situation it may truly be said, that the public interest, the State, was myself.

“ Our principles were attacked from without ;  and in the name of these very principles, I was assailed in the opposite sense at home.  Had I relaxed but ever so little, we should soon have been brought back to the time of the Directory ;  I should have been the object, and France the infallible victim, of a counter Brumaire.  We are in our nature so restless and inconsiderate !  If twenty revolutions were to ensue, we should have twenty constitutions.  This is one of the subjects that are studied most, and observed the least.  We have much need to grow older in this great and glorious path ;  for here our great men have all shewn themselves to be mere children.  May the present generation profit by the faults that have hitherto been committed, and prove as wise as it is enthusiastic !”

To-day the Governor commenced his grand reductions, and it was thought proper to deprive us of eight English domestics, who had formerly been granted to us.  To the servants this was a subject of deep regret, and it was gratifying to ourselves to observe, that we won the regard of all who were permitted to approach us.  We are now absolutely in want of daily necessaries, to supply which the Emperor proposes to dispose of his plate ;  this is his only resource.

After dinner the Emperor read the Cercle, and retired immediately, although it was very early in the evening.  He was indisposed, and could not fall asleep.  He sent for me about midnight.  By chance I had not retired to rest, and I remained in conversation with him for the space of two hours.....................

The Emperor’s Court at the Tuileries.—The presentation of the Ladies.—On women’s ages.—Manuscript of the Island of Elba.

8th.—The Emperor sent for me very early :  he was just finishing his toilette.  He had had no sleep during the night, and he seemed much fatigued.  The weather had become somewhat tolerable, and he desired to have his breakfast under the tent.  While it was preparing, he took a few turns about the garden, and resumed the conversation he had had with me on the preceding night....

He invited Madame de Montholon to breakfast, and afterwards we took a drive in the calash, of which the Emperor had made no use for a considerable time.  He had, scarcely inhaled the fresh air for several days.

The conversation once more turned on the subject of the Emperor’s Court at the Tuileries, the multitude of individuals composing it, the spirit and address with which Napoleon went through the ceremony of the presentations, &c.  I pass over many of the observations that were made, for the sake of avoiding repetition.

“ It is more difficult than is generally supposed,” said the Emperor, “to speak to every body in a crowded assemblage, and yet say nothing to any one ;  to seem to know a multitude of people, nine-tenths of whom are total strangers to one.”

Again, when alluding to the period when he was in the plenitude of his power, he observed, that it was at once easy and difficult to approach him, to communicate with him, and to be appreciated by him ;  and that it depended on the merest chance in the world whether his courtiers made or missed their fortunes.  “Now that I am myself entirely out of the question,” said he, now that I am reduced to the level of a mere private individual, and can reflect philosophically on the time when I was called to execute the designs of Providence, without, however, ceasing to be a man, I see how much the fate of those I governed really depended upon chance ;  and how often favour and credit were purely accidental.  Intrigue is so dextrous, and merit often so maladroit, these extremes approximate so closely to each other, that with the best intentions in the world, I find that my benefits were distributed like prizes in a lottery.  And yet could I have done better ?  Was I faulty in my intentions, or remiss in my exertions ?  Have other sovereigns done better than I did ?  It is only thus that I can be judged.  The fault was in the nature of my situation, and in the force of things.”

We then spoke of the presentation of the ladies at Court, their embarrassment, and the plans, views, and hopes that were formed by some of them.  Madame de Montholon revealed the secrets of several of her acquaintance, by which it appeared that if in the saloons, of Paris some were heard to exclaim against the Emperor’s coarseness of manners, harshness of expression, and ugliness of person, others, who were better disposed, better informed, and differently affected, extolled the sweetness of his voice, the grace of his manners, the delicacy of his smile, and, above all, his celebrated hand, which was said to be ridiculously beautiful.

These advantages, it was observed, combined with great power and still greater glory, were naturally calculated to excite and to give rise to certain romantic stories.  Thus at the Tuileries how many endeavoured to render themselves pleasing to the sovereign !  How many sought to inspire a sentiment which it is probable they themselves really felt !

The Emperor smiled at our remarks and conjectures ;  and he confessed that, notwithstanding the mass of business and the cloud of flattery in which he was enveloped, he had oftener than once observed the sentiments to which we alluded.  A few of the least timid among his admirers had, he said, even solicited and obtained interviews.  We now laughed in our turn, and said that at the time these stories had been the subject of a great deal of gaiety.  But the Emperor seriously protested that they were void of foundation.  In a more private conversation at the Briars, during one of our walks by moonlight, the Emperor, as I have stated in a former part of my journal, made the same assertion, and contradicted every report of this nature, except one.

Our next subject of conversation was the repugnance of women to let their age be known.  The Emperor made some very lively and entertaining remarks.  An instance was mentioned of a woman who preferred losing an important lawsuit to confessing her age.  The case would have been decided in her favour, had she produced the register of her baptism, but this she could not be prevailed on to do.

Another anecdote of the same kind was mentioned.  A certain lady was much attached to a gentleman, and was convinced that her union with him would render her happy ;  but she could not marry without proving the date of her birth, and she preferred remaining single.

The Emperor informed us that a distinguished lady, at the time of her marriage, had deceived her husband, and represented herself to be five or six years younger than she really was, by producing the baptismal register of her younger sister, who had been dead some time.  “However,” said the Emperor, “in so doing, poor Josephine exposed herself to some risk.  This might really have proved a case of nullity of “marriage.”  These words furnished us with the key to certain dates, which, at the Tuileries, were the subject of jesting and ridicule, and which we then attributed wholly to the gallantry and extreme complaisance of the Imperial Almanack.

About four o’clock the Emperor took a short walk.  I did not accompany him.  On his return, he informed us that he had visited the Company’s garden, where he had met several very pretty women.  “But I had not my interpreter with me,” he added, pointing to me.  The rogue left me, and nothing could be more provoking, for I never felt more inclined to avail myself of his assistance.”  This little walk, however, did the Emperor no good, for he was presently seized with a severe toothache.

A vessel which had come from the Cape some time ago, sailed for Europe this day.  Several English military officers, who were passengers on board this ship, had not been permitted to wait on the Emperor, in spite of their repeated solicitations.  This was a new instance of the Governor’s malevolence.  These officers were men of distinction, and their reports on their return home might have had some influence.  The Governor, in defiance of all truth, informed them that Napoleon had determined to receive no one.

The Emperor some time ago analyzed to us a subject which he said he intended to dictate in fourteen chapters, and which had forcibly struck me by its truth, its force, its just reasoning, and its dignity.  I frequently alluded to it when I happened to be alone with him ;  and he laughed more than once at the perseverance I evinced, which, he said, was not usual with me.  To-day he informed me that he had at length produced something, though not in fourteen chapters, nor on the promised subject ;  but that I must be content with it.  I have read it ;  and it is certainly a very remarkable fragment.  I do not believe that the revolution has produced any thing more comprehensive and energetic on the governments of the last twenty-five years in France, namely, the Republic, the Consulate, and the Empire.

The exposition and developement of the ten chapters which compose this work may be regarded as a perfect outline of the subject.  The style is remarkably simple and nervous.  Each chapter is full and forcible, and the whole, which consists of fifty pages, is struck off and finished with a masterly hand.  I have understood that the groundwork of these ideas should have been the Emperor’s manifesto at the time of his landing from Elba.

Since my return to Europe, this little work has been published, under the title of Manuscrit de l’Ile d’Elbe ;  though I have reason to believe that at first another title was intended for it.  Be this as it may, since the work is but little known, and as those who have read it may be ignorant of its real origin, I here transcribe almost literally several chapters, which will serve to prove its source and its authority.

Chap. I.—In the sixteenth century, the Pope, Spain, and the Sixteen, attempt in vain to raise a fourth dynasty to the throne of France.  Henry IV. succeeds to Henry III. without an interregnum :  he conquers the League ;  but finds that the only means of securing himself on the throne, is by sincerely joining the party which constitutes the majority of the nation.

“ Henry IV, was proclaimed King at St. Cloud, on the day on which Henry III. died.  His sovereignty was acknowledged by all the Protestant churches, and by a part of the Catholic nobility.  The Holy League which had been formed against Henry III., in hatred of the Protestants, and to avenge the death of the Duke de Guise, was master of Paris, and commanded five-sixths of the kingdom.  The leaguers refused to acknowledge Henry IV., but they proclaimed no other sovereign.  The Duke of Mentz, the chief of the League, exercised authority under the title of Lieutenant-general of the kingdom.  The accession of Henry IV. produced no change in the forms adopted by the League for exercising its power :  each town was governed, as in disturbed and factious times, by local or military authorities.  At no period, not even on the day succeeding his entrance into Paris, did Henry IV. acknowledge the acts of the League, and the latter never set up any pretensions that he should do so.  No law, no regulation, emanated from the League.  The Parliament of Paris was divided into two parties ;  one for the leaguers, which sat at Paris, and the other for Henry IV. which assembled at Tours.  But these parliaments drew up and registered none but judiciary acts.  The provinces retained their own organization and privileges, and were governed by their own common laws.  It has already been observed that the League had not proclaimed any other sovereign ;  but it acknowledged for a moment as King, Cardinal de Bourbon, Henry’s uncle.  The Cardinal, however, did not consent to second the designs of the enemies of his house.  Besides, Henry had seized his person ;  no act emanated from him, and the League continued subject to the authority of the Duke of Mentz, the Lieutenant-general.  There was therefore no interregnum between Henry III. and Henry IV.

“ The League was divided by several parties.  The Sorbonne had decided that the rights of birth could confer no right to the crown on a prince who was an enemy to the Church.  The Pope had declared that Henry IV. having relapsed, had forfeited his rights for ever ;  and that he could not recover them, even though he should return to the bosom of the Church.  Henry IV. King of Navarre was born a Protestant ;  but, at the time of the events of St. Bartholomew, he was compelled to marry Margaret de Valois, and to abjure the reformed religion.  However, as soon as he withdrew from the Court, and found himself amidst the Protestants on the left bank of the Loire, he declared that his abjuration had been wholly compulsory, and he again embraced the Protestant faith.  This step caused him to be characterized as an obstinate renegado ;  but the majority of the League were of opinion that it would be proper to summon Henry to return to the bosom of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church ;  and acknowledge him as sovereign, as soon as he should abjure Protestantism, and receive absolution from the bishops.

“ The leaguers convoked the States-general of the kingdom at Paris.  The Spanish ambassadors now unmasked the designs of their sovereign, and urged the States to establish a fourth dynasty on the throne of France, on the ground that Henry and Condé, by their apostacy, having forfeited their rights to the crown, the male line of the Capets was extinct.  They accordingly set forth the claims of the Infanta of Spain, the daughter of Henry II. of France, who was the first in the female line.  Even supposing that, by the extinction of the male line of descent, the nation possessed the right of disposing of the crown, they still insisted that its choice ought to fall on the Infanta, for two reasons :  first, because it was impossible to select a princess of more illustrious family ;  and secondly, because France was indebted to Philip II. for his exertions in supporting the cause of the League.  The Infanta was to marry a French prince, and mention was even made of the Duke de Guise, the son of the Duke who had been assassinated at Blois.  There was already a body of Spanish troops in Paris, commanded by the Duke of Mentz ;  and it was proposed that an army of 50,000 Spaniards should be maintained in Paris by the Court of Madrid, which would devote its whole power and resources to ensure the triumph of this fourth dynasty.  The Sixteen supported these propositions, which were sanctioned by the Court of Rome, and seconded by the utmost efforts of the Legate.  But all was vain ;  public spirit was roused at the idea of a foreign nation disposing of the throne of France.  That part of the Parliament which sat at Paris addressed remonstrances to the Duke of Mentz, the Lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and urged him to enforce the observance of the fundamental laws of the monarchy, and of the Salic law in particular.  Had the designs of the Spanish faction succeeded ;  had the States-general declared the crown to have been forfeited by the descendants of Hugues Capet ;  had a fourth dynasty been raised to the throne, accepted by the nation, and sanctioned by the religion acknowledged among the powers of Europe, the rights of the third dynasty would have been extinct.

“ Henry conquered the League at Arques and on the plains of Ivry, and he then besieged Paris.  However, he was convinced of the impossibility of reigning in France, unless he joined the national party.  He had conquered with an army composed entirely of French troops :  if he had under his command a small corps of English the leaguers had a still more considerable number of Spaniards and Italians.  On both sides therefore, the contest had been maintained by Frenchmen against Frenchmen ;  the foreigners were merely auxiliaries ;  the national honour and independence could not be compromised, whichever party might be declared victorious.  Ventre Saint-gris !  Paris vaut bien une messe ! were the exclamations by which Henry used to sound the opinion of the Huguenots ;  and when, at the Council of Beauvais, he assembled the principal leaders of the Protestant party to deliberate on the resolution which it was most advisable he should adopt, the majority, and in particular the most intelligent individuals among them, advised the king to abjure his faith and to join the national party.  Henry pronounced his abjuration at Saint-Denis, and received absolution from the Bishops ;  the gates of Paris were thrown open to him, and his authority was acknowledged by the whole kingdom.  He now frankly espoused the national party.  Almost all the public posts were occupied by the leaguers.  The Protestants, those who had constantly served the King, and to whom he was indebted for his victories, frequently raised their complaints against him, and taxed him with in gratitude.  Still however, in spite of all the discretion that was observed, the nation continued long to mistrust the secret intentions of Henry.  It was remarked that what is bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh.

Chap. II.—The Republic consecrated by the will of the people, by religion, by victory, and by all the Powers of Europe.

Hugues Capet ascended the throne by the choice of the Parliament, consisting of Lords and Bishops, which two classes then constituted the nation.  The French monarchy was never absolute ;  the intervention of the States General has always been necessary for sanctioning the principal acts of the legislature, and for levying new taxes.  Subsequently the French parliaments, under the pretence of being States General on a small scale, and seconded by the court, usurped the rights of the nation.  It 1788, the parliaments were the first to acknowledge them.  Louis XVI. convoked the States General in 1789, and the nation exercised a portion of the sovereignty.  The Constituent Assembly framed a new constitution for the state, which was sanctioned by the approval of the whole French people, and which Louis XVI. accepted and swore to maintain.  The Legislative Assembly suspended the King.  The Convention, which consisted of the deputies of all the primary assemblies in the Kingdom, and which was invested with special powers, proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic.  The adherents of the royal party fled from France, and solicited the aid of foreign arms.  Austria and Prussia signed the convention of Pilnitz ;  and Austrian and Prussian armies, joined by the French royalist forces, commenced the war of the first coalition to subdue the French people.  The whole nation took up arms ;  and the Austrians and Prussians were conquered.  The second coalition was afterwards formed by Austria, England, and Russia ;  but this was destroyed like the first, and all the Powers in Europe acknowledged the French Republic.

1st.—The Republic of Genoa, by an extraordinary embassy, on the 15th of June, 1792.

2d.—The Porte, by a declaration, on the 27th of March, 1793.

3d.—Tuscany, by the treaty of the 9th of February, 1795.

4th.—Holland, by the treaty of the 16th of May, 1795.

5th.—The Venetian Republic, by an extraordinary embassy, on the 30th of December, 1795.

6th.—The King of Prussia, by the treaty signed at Bâle, on the 5th of April, 1795.

7th.—The King of Spain, by the treaty signed at Bâle, on the 22nd of July, 1795.

8th.—Hesse-Cassel, by the treaty of the 28th of July, 1795.

9th.—Switzerland, by the treaty of the 19th of August, 1795.

10th.—Denmark, by a declaration, on the 18th of August, 1795.

11th.—Sweden, by an embassy, on the 23d of April, 1795.

12th.—Sardinia, by the treaty of Paris, on the 28th of April, 1796.

13th.—America, by an extraordinary embassy, on the 30th of December, 1796.

14th.—Naples, by the treaty of the 10th of October, 1796.

15th.—Parma, by the treaty of the 5th of November, 1796.

16th.—Wurtemberg, by the treaty of the 7th of August, 1796.

17th.—Baden, by the treaty of the 22d of August, 1796.

18th.—Bavaria, by the treaty of the 24th of July, 1797.

19th.—Portugal, by the treaty of the 19th of August, 1797.

20th.—The Pope, by the treaty signed at Tolentino on the 19th of February, 1797.

21st.—The Emperor of Germany, by the treaty of Campo-Formio, on the 7th of October, 1797.

22d.—The Emperor of Russia, by a treaty signed on the 8th of October, 1801.

23d.—The King of England, by the treaty signed at Amiens on the 27th of March, 1802.

The government of the Republic sent ambassadors to all the Powers of Europe, and received envoys from those powers in return.  The tricoloured flag was acknowledged in every sea, and throughout the world.  At Tolentino, the Pope had treated with the Republic as a temporal sovereign ;  but he acknowledged and treated with it as head of the Catholic religion, by the Concordate which was signed at Paris on the 18th of April, 1802.  Most of the bishops, who had followed the Royalist party abroad, now submitted to the Republican government, and those who refused, forfeited their sees.  In short, the French Republic, which was sanctioned by the citizens, and victorious by its armies, was acknowledged by every sovereign, every power, and every religion in the world, and in particular by the Catholic Church.

Not only was the Republic acknowledged by all the powers in the world, after the death of Louis XVI., but none of these powers ever acknowledged a successor to him.  In the year 1800, therefore, the third dynasty was ended as completely as the first and second.  The rights and titles of the Merovingians were extinguished by the rights and titles of the Carlovingians ;  the rights and titles of the Carlovingians were extinguished by the rights and titles of the Capetians ;  and the rights of the Capetians were, in like manner, extinguished by the Republic.  Every legitimate government supersedes the rights and the legitimacy of the governments that have preceded it.  The Republic was a government, in fact and in right, rendered legitimate by the will of the nation, sanctioned by the Church, and by the adherence of all the powers in the world.

Chap. III.—The Revolution rendered France a new nation :—it emancipated the Gauls from the tyranny of the Franks :  it created new interests, and a new order of things conformable with the welfare and rights of the people, and the justice and knowledge of the age.

The French Revolution was not produced by the jarring interests of two families disputing the possession of the throne ;  it was a general rising of the mass of the nation against the privileged classes.  The French nobility, like that of every country in Europe, dates its origin from the incursion of the barbarians, who divided among themselves the possession of the Roman Empire.  In France the nobles represented the Franks and the Burgundians, and the rest of the nation the Gauls.  The feudal system that was introduced established the principle that all land should have a lord.  All political privileges were exercised by the priests and nobles ;  the peasants were slaves, and in part attached to the glebe.  The progress of civilization and knowledge emancipated the people.  This new state of things promoted industry and trade.  The chief portion of the land, wealth, and information, fell to the share of the people in the eighteenth century.  The nobles, however, still continued to be a privileged class :  they were empowered to administer justice, and they possessed feudal rights under various denominations and forms :  they were exempt from contributing to support any of the burthens of the state, and enjoyed exclusive possession of the most honourable posts.  These abuses roused the indignation of the citizens.  The principal object of the revolution was to destroy all privileges ;  to abolish signiorial jurisdictions, justice being an inseparable attribute of sovereign authority ;  to suppress feudal rights, as being a remnant of the old slavery of the people ;  to oblige all citizens and all property, equally and without distinction, to contribute to maintain the burthens of the state.  In short, the Revolution proclaimed equality of rights.  A citizen might attain any public employment, according to his talent and the chances of fortune.  The kingdom was composed of provinces which had been united to the crown at various periods :  they had no natural limits, and were differently divided, unequal in extent and in population.  They possessed many laws of their own, civil as well as criminal :  they were more or less privileged, and very unequally taxed, both with respect to the amount and the nature of the contributions, which rendered it necessary to detach them from each other by lines of custom-houses.  France was not a state, but a combination of several states, connected together without amalgamation.  The whole had been determined by chance and by the events of past ages.  The Revolution, guided by the principle of equality both with respect to the citizens and the different portions of the territory, destroyed all these small nations :  there was no longer a Brittany, a Normandy, a Burgundy, a Champaign, a Provence, or a Lorraine ;  but the whole formed a France.  A division of homogeneous territory, prescribed by local circumstances, confounded the limits of all the provinces.  They possessed the same judiciary and administrative organization, the same civil and criminal laws, and the same system of taxation.  The dreams of the upright men of all ages were realized.  The opposition which the court, the clergy, and the nobility, set up against the Revolution, occasioned the war of foreign powers, and produced the law of emigration and the sequestration of emigrant property, which subsequently it was found necessary to sell, to assist in supporting the charges of the war.  A great portion of the French nobility enrolled themselves under the banner of the princes of the Bourbon family, and formed an army which marched in junction with the Austrian, Prussian and English forces.  Gentlemen who had been brought up in the enjoyment of competency served as private soldiers :  numbers were cut off by fatigue and the sword ;  others perished of want in foreign countries ;  and the wars of La Vendée and of the Chouans, and the revolutionary tribunals, swept away thousands.  Three-fourths of the French nobility were thus destroyed ;  and all posts, civil, judicial, or military, were filled by citizens who had risen from the common mass of the people.  The change produced in persons and property, by the events of the Revolution, was no less remarkable than that which was effected by the principles of the Revolution.  A new church was created ;  the dioceses of Vienna, Narbonne, Frejus, Sisteron, Rheims, &c. were superseded by sixty new dioceses, the boundaries of which were circumscribed, in the Concordate, by new Bulls applicable to the present state of the French territory.  The suppression of religious orders, the sale of convents and of all ecclesiastical property, were sanctioned, and the clergy were pensioned by the state.  Every thing that was the result of the events which had succeeded since the time of Clovis, ceased to exist.  All these changes were so advantageous to the people, that they were effected with the utmost facility, and, in 1800, there no longer remained any recollection of the old privileges and sovereigns of the provinces, the old parliaments and bailiwicks, or the old dioceses ;  and to trace back the origin of all that existed, it was sufficient to refer to the new law which it had been established.  One-half of the land had changed its proprietors ;  the peasantry and the citizens were enriched.  The advancement of agriculture and manufactures exceeded the most sanguine hopes.  France presented the imposing spectacle of upwards of thirty millions of inhabitants, circumscribed within their natural limits, and composing only a single class of citizens, governed by one law, one rule, and one order.  All these changes were conformable with the welfare and rights of the nation, and with the justice and intelligence of the age.

Chap. IV.—The French people establish the Imperial throne, to consolidate the new interests of the nation.  The fourth dynasty did not immediately succeed the third ;  it succeeded the Republic.  Napoleon is crowned by the Pope, and acknowledged by the Powers of Europe.  He creates kings, and the armies of all the Continental Powers march under his command.

The five members of the Directory were divided.  Enemies to the Republic crept into the Councils ;  and thus men, hostile to the rights of the people, became connected with the government.  This state of things kept the country in a fermentation ;  and the great interests which the French people had acquired by the Revolution were incessantly compromised.  A unanimous voice, issuing from the plains of France and from the bosom of her cities and her camps, demanded the preservation of all the principles of the Republic, or the establishment of an hereditary system in the government, which would place the principles and interests of the Revolution beyond the reach of factions and the influence of foreigners.  By the constitution of the year VIII. the First Consul of the Republic became Consul for ten years, and the nation afterwards prolonged his magistracy for life :  the people subsequently raised him to the throne, which it rendered hereditary in his family.  The principles of the sovereignty of the people, of liberty and equality, of the destruction of the feudal system, of the irrevocability of the sale of national domains, and the freedom of religious worship, were now established.  The government of France, under the fourth dynasty, was founded on the same principles as the Republic.  It was a moderate and constitutional monarchy.  There was as much difference betwixt the government of France under the fourth dynasty and the third, as betwixt the latter and the Republic.  The fourth dynasty succeeded the Republic, or, more properly speaking, it was merely a modification of it.

No prince ever ascended a throne with rights more legitimate than those of Napoleon.  The crown was not presented to him by a few bishops and nobles ;  but he was raised to the Imperial throne by the unanimous consent of the citizens, three times solemnly confirmed.  Pope Pius VII. the head of the Catholic religion, the religion of the majority of the French people, crossed the Alps to anoint the Emperor with his own hands, in the presence of the bishops of France, the cardinals of the Roman Church, and the deputies from all the districts of the Empire.  The sovereigns of Europe eagerly acknowledged Napoleon :  all beheld with pleasure the modification of the Republic which placed France on a footing of harmony with the rest of Europe, and which at once confirmed the constitution and the happiness of that great nation.  Ambassadors from Austria, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and America, in fine, from all the Powers of Europe, came to congratulate the Emperor.  England alone sent no ambassador :  she had violated the treaty of Amiens, and had consequently again declared war against France ;  but even England approved the change.  Lord Whitworth, in the secret negotiations which took place through the medium of Count Malouet, and which preceded the rupture of the peace of Amiens, proposed, on the part of the English government, to acknowledge Napoleon as King of France, on condition of his agreeing to the cession of Malta.  The First Consul replied that if ever the welfare of France required that he should ascend the throne, it would only be by the free and spontaneous will of the French people.  In 1806, when Lord Lauderdale came to Paris to negotiate peace between the King of England and the Emperor, he exchanged his powers, as is proved by the protocol of the negotiations, and he treated with the Emperor’s plenipotentiary.  The death of Fox broke up the negotiations of Lord Lauderdale.  The English Minister had it in his power to obviate the Prussian campaign,^[1] to prevent the battle of Jena.  When, in 1814, the Allies presented an ultimatum at Chaumont, Lord Castlereagh, in signing this ultimatum, again acknowledged the existence of the Empire in the person and the family of Napoleon.  If the latter did not accept the propositions of the Congress of Chatillon, it was because he did not conceive himself at liberty to cede a portion of the Empire, the integrity of which he had, at his coronation, sworn to maintain.

The Electors of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Saxony, were created Kings by Napoleon.

The armies of Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, and Hesse, fought in conjunction with the French armies ;  and the Russian and French troops fought together in 1809, in the war against Austria.  In 1812, the Emperor of Austria concluded at Paris an alliance with Napoleon, and Prince Schwartzenberg commanded, under his orders, the Austrian contingent in the Russian campaign, in which he attained the rank of Field Marshal, on the application of the French Emperor.  A similar treaty of alliance was concluded at Berlin, and the Prussian army also fought with the French in the campaign of Russia.

The Emperor healed the wounds which the Revolution had inflicted :  the emigrants returned, and the list of proscription was obliterated.  Napoleon enjoyed the glory most gratifying to a monarch, by recalling and re-establishing in their homes upwards of 20,000 families :  their unsold property was restored to them ;  and the veil of oblivion being thrown over the past, individuals of every class, whatever line of conduct they might previously have pursued, were admitted to all public employments.  Families who had distinguished themselves by the services they had rendered to the Bourbons, those who had shewn themselves most devoted to the Royal Family, filled places about the court, and in the ministry, and held commissions in the army.  All party denominations were forgotten :  aristocrats and Jacobins were no longer spoken of ;  and the institution of the Legion of Honour, which was at once the reward of military, civil, and judicial services, placed on a footing of unity the soldier, the man of science, the artist ;  the prelate, and the magistrate ;  it became the token of concord among all classes and parties.

Chap. V.—The blood of the Imperial dynasty mingled with that of all the monarchical Houses in Europe ;  with those of Russia, Prussia, England, and Austria.

The Imperial House of France contracted alliances with all the sovereign families of Europe.  Prince Eugène Napoleon, the adopted son of the Emperor, married the eldest daughter of the King of Bavaria, a princess distinguished for her beauty and her virtues.  This alliance, which was Contracted at Munich on the 14th of January, 1806, afforded the highest satisfaction to the Bavarian nation.  The Hereditary Prince of Baden, the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, solicited the hand of Princess Stephanie, the adopted daughter of the Emperor Napoleon :  this marriage was celebrated at Paris on the 7th of April, 1806.  On the 22d of August, 1807, Prince Jerome Napoleon married the eldest daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, cousin-german of the Emperor of Russia, the King of England, and the King of Prussia.  Other alliances of this nature were contracted with sovereign princes of Germany, of the House of Hohenzollern.  These marriages have proved happy, and all have given birth to princes and princesses who will transmit to future generations the recollection of the Imperial government of France.

When the interests of France and the Empire induced the Emperor and the Empress Josephine to break bonds which were equally dear to them both, the greatest sovereigns in Europe courted the alliance of Napoleon.  Had it not been for religious scruples, and the delays occasioned by distance, it is probable that a Russian princess would have occupied the throne of France.  The Archduchess Maria Louisa, who was married to the Emperor by procuration granted to Prince Charles, at Vienna, on the 11th of March, 1810, and at Paris on the 2d of April following, ascended the throne of France.  As soon as the Emperor of Austria learned that Napoleon’s marriage was in agitation, he expressed his surprise that an alliance with the House of Austria had not been thought of.  The choice was hitherto divided between a Russian and a Saxon princess :  Francis explained his sentiments on this subject to the Count de Narbonne, the Governor of Trieste, who was then at Vienna ;  and, in consequence, instructions were forwarded to the Prince of Schwartzenberg, the Austrian ambassador at Paris.  In February, 1810, a Privy Council was convoked at the Tuileries :  the Minister for Foreign Affairs submitted to the Council the despatches of the Duke of Vicenza, the French ambassador at the Court of Russia.  These communications shewed that the Emperor Alexander was very much disposed to give his sister, the Grand-duchess Anne, in marriage to Napoleon ;  but he seemed to make it a point of importance that the Princess should be allowed the public exercise of her religious worship, and a chapel appropriated to the Greek rites.  The despatches from Vienna developed the insinuations and the wishes of the Austrian Court.  There was a division of opinions in the French Council :  the Russian, the Saxon, and the Austrian alliance, all found supporters ;  but the majority voted for the choice of an Archduchess of Austria.  As Prince Eugène had been the first to propose the Austrian alliance, the Emperor, breaking up the sitting at two in the morning, authorized him to commence overtures with Prince Schwartzenberg.  He at the same time authorized the Minister for foreign affairs to sign, in the course of the day, the conventions of the marriage with the Austrian ambassador ;  and, to obviate all difficulties with respect to the details, he directed him to sign, word for word, the same contract as that which had been drawn up for the marriage of Louis XVI. and the Archduchess Maria-Antoinette.  In the morning, Prince Eugèe had an interview with Prince Schwartzenberg :  the contract was signed the same day, and the courier who conveyed the intelligence to Austria agreeably surprised the Emperor Francis.  The peculiar circumstances attending the signature of this marriage contract led the Emperor Alexander to suspect that he had been trifled with, and that the Court of the Tuileries had been conducting two negotiations at once.  But this was a mistake :  the negotiation with Vienna was begun and concluded in one day.^[2]  Never did the birth of any prince excite so much enthusiasm in a people, or produce so powerful a sensation throughout Europe, as the birth of the King of Rome.  On the firing of the first gun, which announced the delivery of the Empress, the whole population of Paris were wrapt in the most anxious suspense.  In the streets, the promenades, at the places of public amusement, and in the interior of the houses, all were eagerly intent on counting the number of guns.  The twenty-second excited universal transport :  it had been usual to discharge twenty-one guns on the birth of a princess, and a hundred and one on the birth of a prince.  All the European powers deputed the most distinguished noblemen of their Courts to present their congratulations to the Emperor.  The Emperor of Russia sent his Minister of the interior ;  and the Emperor of Austria despatched Count Clary, one of his highest crown officers, who brought, as presents to the young king, the collars of all the orders of the Austrian Monarchy, set with diamonds.  The baptism of the King of Rome was celebrated with the utmost pomp, in the presence of the French bishops, and deputies from all parts of the Empire.  The Emperor of Austria was sponsor to the young king by proxy ;  he was represented by his brother, the Archduke Ferdinand, Grand-Duke of Tuscany.

Chap. VI.—Containing some account of the campaign of Saxony^[3], and shewing that the league of 1813 was in its object foreign to the Restoration.

The victories of Lutzen and Wurchen, on the 2d and 22d of May, 1813, had re-established the reputation of the French arms.  The King of Saxony was brought back in triumph to his capital ;  the enemy was driven from Hamburgh ;  one of the corps of the grand army was at the gates of Berlin, and the imperial head-quarters were established at Breslau.  The Russian and Prussian armies, disheartened by their defeats, had no alternative but to repass the Vistula, when Austria interfered and advised France to sign an armistice.  Napoleon returned to Dresden, the Emperor of Austria quitted Vienna and repaired to Bohemia, and the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia established themselves at Schweidnitz.  Communications took place between the different powers.  Count Metternich proposed the congress of Prague, which was agreed on ;  but it was merely the shadow of a congress.  The Court of Vienna had already entered into engagements with Russia and Prussia, and intended to declare itself in the month of May, when the unexpected success of the French army rendered greater circumspection necessary.  Notwithstanding all the efforts which Austria had exerted, her army was still inconsiderable in number, badly organized, and ill prepared to enter upon a campaign.  Count Metternich demanded, on the part of Austria, the surrender of the Illyrian Provinces, one half of the kingdom of Italy, (that is to say, Venice, as far as the Mincio,) and Poland.  It was moreover required that Napoleon should renounce the Protectorate of Germany, and the departments of the thirty-second military division.  These extravagant propositions were advanced only that they might be rejected.  The Duke of Vicenza proceeded to the Congress of Prague.  The choice Baron d’Austetten, as the Russian plenipotentiary, shewed that Russia wished not for peace, but was merely anxious to afford Austria time to complete her military preparations.  The unfavourable augury, occasioned by the selection of Baron d’Austetten as a negotiator was confirmed :  he declined entering upon any conference.  Austria, who pretended to act as a mediatress, declared, when her army was in readiness, that she adhered to the coalition, though she did not even require the opening of a single sitting, or the drawing up of a single protocol.  This system of bad faith, and of perpetual contradictions between words and acts, was unremittingly pursued, at this period, by the Court of Vienna.  The war was resumed.  The brilliant victory gained by the Emperor at Dresden, on the 27th of August, 1813, over the army commanded by the three Sovereigns, was immediately followed by the disasters which Macdonald, through his ill-concerted manoeuvres, brought upon himself in Silesia, and by the destruction of Vandamme’s force in Bohemia.  However, the superiority was still on the side of the French army, which supported itself on three points, viz :  Torgau, Wittemberg, and Magdeburgh.  Denmark had concluded a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, and her contingent augmented the army of Hamburgh.

In October, the Emperor quitted Dresden to proceed to Magdeburgh ;  by the left bank of the Elbe, in order to deceive the enemy.  His intention was to recross the Elbe at Wittemberg and to march on Berlin.  Several corps of the army had already arrived at Wittemberg, and the enemy’s bridges at Dessau had been destroyed, when a letter from the King of Wurtemberg informed the Emperor that the King of Bavaria had suddenly gone over to the enemy ;  and that, without any declaration of war or any previous intimation, the Austrian and Bavarian forces, cantoned on the banks of the Inn, had formed themselves into one camp ;  that these forces, amounting to 80,000, under the orders of General Wrede, were marching on the Rhine ;  that he (the King of Wurtemberg), seeing the impossibility of his opposing this united force, had been obliged to add his contingent to it.  The letter farther added that 100,000 men would soon surround Mentz, the Bavarians having made common cause with Austria.  Upon receiving this unexpected intelligence, the Emperor found himself compelled to change the plan of the campaign which he had projected two months previously, and in pursuance of which he had disposed of the fortresses and magazines.  This plan had for its object to drive the Allies between the Elbe and the Saale ;  and, under the protection of the fortresses and magazines of Torgau, Wittemberg, Magdeburgh, and Hamburgh, to establish the seat of war between the Elbe and the Oder, (the French army being at that time in possession of the forts of Glogau, Custrin, and Stettin), and, according as circumstances might suggest, to raise the blockades from the fortresses of the Vistula, Dantzic, Thorn, and Modlin.  It was anticipated that the success of this vast plan would have been the means of breaking up the coalition, and that, in consequence, all the German Princes would have been confirmed in their allegiance and their alliance with France.  It was hoped that Bavaria would have delayed for a fortnight to change sides, and then it was certain that she would not have changed at all.  The armies met on the plains of Leipsic, on the 16th of October.  The French were victorious :  the Austrians were beaten and, driven from all their positions ;  and Count Meerfeld, who commanded one of the Austrian corps, was made Prisoner.  On the 18th, notwithstanding the check sustained by the Duke of Ragusa on the 18th, victory was still on the side of the French, when the whole of the Saxon army, with a battery of sixty guns, occupying one of the most important positions of the line, passed over to the enemy, and turned its artillery on the French ranks.  Such unlooked-for treachery was likely to cause the destruction of the French army, and to transfer all the glory of the day to the Allies.  The Emperor galloped forward with half his guard, repulsed the Swedes and Saxons, and drove them from their positions.  This day (the 18th) was now ended :  the enemy made a retrograde movement along the whole of his line, and bivouacked in the rear of the field of battle, which remained in the possession of the French.  In the night the French army made a movement, in order to take its position behind the Elster, and thus to be in direct communication with Erfurt, whence were expected the convoys of ammunition that were so much wanted.  In the engagements of the 16th and 18th, the French army had fired more than 150,000 discharges of cannon.  The treason of several of the German corps of the Confederation, who were seduced by the example of the Saxons on the preceding day, the destruction of the bridge of Leipsic, which was blown up by mistake, occasioned the French army, though victorious, to experience the losses which usually result from the most disastrous engagements.  The French recrossed the Saale by the bridge of Weissenfeld :  they intended to rally their forces, and await the arrival of the ammunition from Erfurt, which had abundant supplies.  Intelligence was now received of the Austro-Bavarian army, which by forced marches had reached the Maine.  It was necessary therefore to repair thither, in order to come up with the Bavarians ;  and on the 30th of October the French fell in with them, ranged in order of battle before Hanau and intercepting the Frankfort high-road.  The Bavarian force, though numerous and occupying fine positions, was completely routed, and driven beyond Hanau, which was in the possession of Count Bertrand.  General Wrede was wounded.  The French forces continued their movement with the view of falling back behind the Rhine, and they re-crossed the river on the 2nd of November.  A parley ensued :  Baron de Saint-Aignan repaired to Frankfort, where he had conferences with Counts Metternich and Nesselrode and Lord Aberdeen, and he arrived at Paris with proposals for peace on the following bases :— That the Emperor Napoleon should renounce the Protectorate of the Confederation of the Rhine, Poland, and the departments of the Elbe ;  but that France should retain her boundaries of the Alps and the Rhine, together with the possession of Holland, and that a frontier line in Italy should be determined upon, for separating France from the States of the House of Austria.  The Emperor agreed to these bases ;  but the Congress of Frankfort, like that of Prague, was merely a stratagem designed in the hope that France would reject the terms which were proposed.  It was wished to have a new subject for a manifesto to operate on the public mind ;  for at the moment when these conciliatory propositions were made, the Allied army was violating the neutrality of the cantons, and entering Switzerland.  However, the Allies at last developed their real intentions ;  they named Chatillon-sur-Seine, in Burgundy, as the seat of the Congress.  The battles of Champ-Aubert, Montmirail, and Montereau, destroyed the armies of Blucher and Witgenstein.  No negotiations took place at Chatillon ;  but the coalesced powers presented an ultimatum, the conditions of which were as follows :

1st, That France should surrender the whole of Italy, Belgium, Holland, and the departments of the Rhine ;  2nd, that France should return to her limits as they existed previously to 1792.  The Emperor rejected this ultimatum.  He consented to sacrifice Holland and Italy to the circumstances in which France was then placed ;  but he refused to resign the limits of the Alps and the Rhine, or to surrender Belgium, and particularly Antwerp.  Treason secured the triumph of the Allies, notwithstanding the victories of Arcis and Saint-Dizier.  Hitherto the Allies had intimated no design of interfering in the internal affairs of France :  this is proved by the ultimatum of Chatillon, signed by England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.  At length, however, some of the returned emigrants, excited by the presence of the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian armies, in whose ranks they had long borne arms, imagined that the moment had arrived in which their dreams were to be realized :  some mounted the white cockade, and others displayed the cross of Saint-Louis.  This conduct was disapproved by the Allied Sovereigns ;  and it was even censured by Wellington at Bourdeaux, though in reality he secretly favoured all who endeavoured to raise the ensigns of the House of Bourbon.  In the transactions which detached Prussia from her alliance with France, and bound her to Russia by the treaty of Kalisch ;  in the treaty which united Austria with the coalition ;  in the diplomatic proceedings public and private, which took place down to the treaty of Chatillon ;  and even in that which was made in France, in 1814, the Allies never made any reference to the Bourbons.

The VIIth, VIIIth, and IXth Chapters shew that the Bourbons after their return ought to have commenced a fifth dynasty, and not to have endeavoured to continue the third.  The first course would have rendered all easy, the second has involved every thing in difficulty.

The Xth Chapter closes with a passage of a few lines which forcibly describes the magical effect of the Emperor’s return on the 20th of March.  These last chapters contain the most nervous and energetic writing, but the applications are direct, and indeed often personal.  I have suppressed the details because I wish not to afford any ground for my being accused of bringing forward a hostile statement.  Time, which modifies all things, will render this work merely an historical document, which is the only light in which I wish it to be considered here, as well, indeed, as all works of a similar nature that I may think it necessary to quote.  I have written in France and other countries, under different laws and circumstances, and I have always found the liberty of the press existing.

I hope to experience its influence on the present occasion, although my subject be one of a most delicate nature.  I now look forward to the speedy termination of my voyage ;  the port is within sight, and I hope to reach it safely, in spite of all the shoals I may encounter.

1 While Lord Lauderdale was in Paris, and negotiating with the Emperor’s plenipotentiaries, Prussia took up arms and assumed a hostile attitude.  Lord Lauderdale seemed to disapprove of this conduct, and to consider the contest very unequal.  Being informed that Napoleon intended to march at the head of the army, he enquired whether the Emperor would consent to defer his departure, and to enter into arrangements with Prussia, if England would accept the basis of the negotiations, that is to say, the uti possidetis on both sides, including Hanover.  The discussion was maintained on the subject of Hanover, which England wished to recover independently of this basis.  By the reply of the Cabinet of St. James’s Lord Lauderdale was recalled.  The Emperor set out, and the battle of Jena took place ;  Fox was then dead.
    We were, at this period, eye-witnesses to the regret and repugnance which Napoleon evinced at the necessity of going to war with Prussia.  He was disposed to leave Hanover in the possession of that power, and to recognize a confederation of the North of Germany.  He felt that Prussia having never been beaten or humbled by France, and her power being still unimpaired, she could have no interests hostile to his ;  but that, if once she were subdued, she must be destroyed.

2 A report was pretty generally circulated, that the marriage of the Archduchess Maria-Louisa with the Emperor Napoleon, was a secret article of the treaty of Vienna :  this idea is void of foundation.  The treaty of Vienna is dated Oct. 15, 1809, and the marriage contract was signed at Paris on the 7th of Feb. 1810.
    Every individual who was present at the deliberations of the Privy Council, can attest that the circumstances of the marriage were such as they have been above described ;  that no idea of the Austrian alliance was entertained before the contents of the Count de Narbonne’s despatches were made known ;  and that the marriage with the Archduchess Maria-Louisa was proposed, discussed, and determined on in the Council, and signed within the space of four-and-twenty hours.
    The members of the Council were—the Emperor, the great dignitaries of the Empire, the high officers of the Crown, all the ministers, the presidents of the Senate and the Legislative Body, and the ministers of state, presidents of the sections of the Council of State ;  amounting, in all, to 25.

3 I did not choose to suppress this summary of the campaign in Saxony, although the same subject has already been particularly treated of at the commencement of this volume.  If, however, some readers should consider it merely a repetition, others will find in it the means of comparing and verifying what has been before stated :  one of the accounts is drawn up from documents published in Europe, whilst the other was dictated at Saint-Helena by Napoleon himself.