_Effects of Napoleon's return upon the Parisians--Congratulations
and addresses by all the public Functionaries--Conspiracy of
Mallet--very nearly successful--How at last defeated--The impression
made by this event upon Buonaparte--Discussions with the Pope, who
is brought to France, but remains inflexible--State of Affairs in
Spain--Napoleon's great and successful exertions to recruit his
Army--Guards of Honour--In the month of April, the army is raised to
350,000 men, independently of the troops left in garrison in
Germany, and in Spain and Italy._
Upon the morning succeeding his return, which was like the sudden
appearance of one dropped from the heavens, Paris resounded with the
news; which had, such was the force of Napoleon's character, and the
habits of subjection to which the Parisians were inured, the effect of
giving a new impulse to the whole capital. If the impressions made by
the twenty-ninth bulletin could not be effaced, they were carefully
concealed. The grumblers suppressed their murmurs, which had begun to be
alarming. The mourners dried their tears, or shed them in solitude. The
safe return of Napoleon was a sufficient cure for the loss of 500,000
men, and served to assuage the sorrows of as many widows and
orphans.[237] The emperor convoked the Council of State. He spoke with
apparent frankness of the misfortunes which had befallen his army, and
imputed them all to the snow.--"All had gone well," he said; "Moscow was
in our power--every obstacle was overcome--the conflagration of the city
had produced no change on the flourishing condition of the French army;
but winter has been productive of a general calamity, in consequence of
which the army had sustained very great losses." One would have thought,
from his mode of stating the matter, that the snow had surprised him in
the midst of victory, and not in the course of a disastrous and
inevitable retreat.
The _Moniteur_ was at first silent on the news from Russia, and
announced the advent of the Emperor as if he had returned from
Fontainbleau; but after an interval of this apparent coldness, like the
waters of a river in the thaw, accumulating behind, and at length
precipitating themselves over, a barrier of ice, arose the general
gratulation of the public functionaries, whose power and profit must
stand or fall with the dominion of the Emperor, and whose voices alone
were admitted to represent those of the people. The cities of Rome,
Florence, Milan, Turin, Hamburgh, Amsterdam, Mayence, and whatever
others there were of consequence in the empire, joined in the general
asseveration, that the presence of the Emperor alone was all that was
necessary to convert disquietude into happiness and tranquillity. The
most exaggerated praise of Napoleon's great qualities, the most
unlimited devotion to his service, the most implicit confidence in his
wisdom, were the theme of these addresses. Their flattery was not only
ill-timed, considering the great loss which the country had sustained;
but it was so grossly exaggerated in some instances, as to throw
ridicule even upon the high talents of the party to whom it was
addressed, as daubers are often seen to make a ridiculous caricature of
the finest original. In the few circles where criticism on these
effusions of loyalty might be whispered, the authors of the addresses
were compared to the duped devotee in Molière's comedy, who, instead of
sympathizing in his wife's illness, and the general indisposition of his
family, only rejoices to hear that Tartuffe is in admirable good health.
Yet there were few even among these scoffers who would have dared to
stay behind, had they been commanded to attend the Emperor to Notre
Dame, that Te Deum might be celebrated for the safe return of Napoleon,
though purchased by the total destruction of his great army.
[Sidenote: CONSPIRACY OF MALLET.]
But it was amongst the public offices that the return of the Emperor so
unexpectedly, produced the deepest sensation. They were accustomed to go
on at a moderate rate with the ordinary routine of duty, while the
Emperor was on any expedition; but his return had the sudden effect of
the appearance of the master in the school, from which he had been a
short time absent. All was bustle, alertness, exertion, and
anticipation. On the present occasion, double diligence, or the show of
it, was exerted; for all feared, and some with reason, that their
conduct on a late event might have incurred the severe censure of the
Emperor. We allude to the conspiracy of Mallet, a singular incident, the
details of which we have omitted till now.
During Buonaparte's former periods of absence, the government of the
interior of France, under the management of Cambacérès, went on in the
ordinary course, as methodically, though not so actively, as when
Napoleon was at the Tuileries; the system of administration was
accurate, that of superintendence not less so. The obligations of the
public functionaries were held as strict as those of military men. But
during the length of Napoleon's absence on the Russian expedition, a
plot was formed, which served to show how little firm was the hold which
the system of the Imperial government had on the feelings of the nation,
by what slight means its fall might be effected, and how small an
interest a new revolution would have excited.[238] It seemed that the
Emperor's power showed stately and stable to the eye, like a tall
pine-tree, which, while it spreads its shade broad around, and raises
its head to heaven, cannot send its roots, like those of the oak, deep
into the bowels of the earth, but, spreading them along the shallow
surface, is liable to be overthrown by the first assault of the
whirlwind.
The final purpose of Mallet is not known. He was of noble birth, and
served in the Mousquetaires of the royal household before the
Revolution, which inclined many to think that he had the interest of the
Bourbons in view. As, however, he had risen to the head of chef de
brigade in the Republican army, it is more probable that he belonged to
the sect of Philadelphes.[239] In 1808, General Mallet was committed to
prison, as concerned in an intrigue against the Emperor; and he was
still under the restraint of the police, when he formed the audacious
scheme which had so nearly succeeded. While under a confinement now
lenient, in a Maison de Santé, he was able to execute, or procure to be
executed, a forged paper, purporting to be a decree of the Senate,
announcing officially the death of the Emperor, the abolition of the
Imperial government, and the establishment of a provisional committee of
administration. This document was to appearance attested by the official
seal and signatures.
On the 22d of October, at midnight, he escaped from his place of
confinement, dressed himself in his full uniform, and, accompanied by a
corporal in the dress of an aide-de-camp, repaired to the prison of La
Force, where he demanded and obtained the liberation of two generals,
Lahorie and Guidal, who were confined under circumstances not dissimilar
to his own. They went together to the barracks at the Minims, not then
inhabited by any part of the truest and most attached followers of
Napoleon, who, while his power was tottering at home, were strewing with
their bones the snows of Russia and the deserts of Spain, but by
battalions of raw conscripts and recruits. Here Mallet assumed an air of
absolute authority, commanded the drums to beat, ordered the troops on
parade, and despatched parties upon different services.
No one disputed his right to be obeyed, and Soulier, commandant of the
troops, placed them at his absolute disposal, being partly, as he
himself alleged, confused in mind by a fever which afflicted him at the
time, partly, perhaps, influenced by a check for 100,000 francs, which
was laid down upon his bed, to cover, it was said, a gratuity to the
soldiers, and an issue of double pay to the officers. One division
seized Savary, the minister of police, and conducted him to prison.
Another party found it as easy to arrest the person of the prefect of
police. A battalion of soldiers, under the same authority, occupied the
place de Grève, and took possession of the hôtel de Ville; while Compte
Frochot, who had been for thirteen years the Prefect of the Seine,
stupified by the suddenness of the intelligence, and flattered perhaps,
by finding his own name in the list of the provisional committee of
government, had the complaisance to put the conspirators in possession
of the tower of St. Jacques, from which the tocsin was usually sounded,
and get an apartment in the hôtel de Ville arranged for the reception of
the new administration. But the principal conspirator, like Fiesco at
Genoa, perished at the moment when his audacious enterprise seemed about
to be crowned with success. Hitherto none had thought of disobeying the
pretended decree of the Senate. Rumour had prepared all men for the
death of the Emperor, and the subsequent revolution seemed a consequence
so natural, that it was readily acquiesced in, and little interest shown
on the subject.
But Mallet, who had himself gone to obtain possession of the
headquarters in the place Vendôme, was unexpectedly resisted by General
Hullin. Prepared for every circumstance, the desperado fired a pistol at
the head of the general, and wounded him grievously; but in the
meanwhile, he was himself recognised by Laborde, chief of the military
police, who, incredulous that his late captive would have been selected
by the Senate for the important duty which he was assuming, threw
himself on Mallet, and made him prisoner. Thus ended the
conspiracy.[240] The soldiers, who had been its blind instruments, were
marched back to the barracks. Mallet, with twenty-four of his
associates, most of them military men, were tried by a military
tribunal, and twelve of them were shot in the plain of Grenelle, 30th of
October. He met his death with the utmost firmness.[241] The sun was
rising on the Hospital of Invalids, and the workmen were employed in
gilding that splendid dome, for which Buonaparte had given express
orders, in imitation, it was said, of those which he had seen in Moscow.
The prisoner made some remarks upon the improvement which this would be
to the capital. As he stepped towards the fatal ground, he said,
mysteriously, but sternly, "You have got the tail, but you will not get
the head." From this expression it has been gathered, that, as the
conspiracy of the infernal machine, formed originally among the
Jacobins, was executed by the Royalists, so this plot was the device of
the Royalists, though committed to the execution of republican
hands.[242] The truth, though it must be known to some now alive, has
never been made public.
This was the news which reached Buonaparte on the fatal 6th of November,
betwixt Wiazma and Smolensk, and which determined his retreat from the
army at Smorgoni, and his rapid journey to Paris. It was not so much the
conspiracy which alarmed him, as the supineness or levity with which the
nation, at least Paris, its capital, seemed ready to abandon the dynasty
which he had hoped to render perpetual. He was even startled by the
number of executions, and exclaimed against the indiscriminate severity
with which so many officers had been led to death, although rather dupes
than accomplices of the principal conspirator. "It is a massacre," he
said; "a fusillade! What impression will it make on France?"
[Sidenote: PARIS.]
When Napoleon reached the metropolis, he found the Parisians as little
interested in the execution of the criminals, as they had been in their
ephemeral success. But the sting remained in his own mind, and on the
first audience of his ministers, he exclaimed against ideology, or, in
other words, against any doctrine which, appealing to the general
feelings of patriotism or of liberty, should resist the indefeasible and
divine right of the sovereign. He sounded the praises of Harlai and
Molé, ministers of justice, who had died in protecting the rights of the
crown; and exclaimed, that the best death would be that of the soldier
who falls on the field of battle, if the end of the magistrate, who dies
in defence of the throne and laws, was not still more glorious.[243]
This key-note formed an admirable theme for the flourishes of the
various counsellors of the sections, to whom the fate of Frochot, the
peccant prefect, had been submitted with reference to the extent of his
crime and his punishment. Not even the addresses to James II. of Britain
(who had at least a hereditary right to the throne he occupied) poured
forth such a torrent of professions, or were more indifferently backed
with deeds, when the observant courtiers were brought to the proof, than
did those of the French functionaries at this period. "What is life,"
said the Comte de Chabrol, who had been created Prefect of Paris in room
of the timorous Frochot--"What is life, in comparison to the immense
interests which rest on the sacred head of the heir of the empire? For
me, whom an unexpected glance of your Imperial eye has called from a
distance to a post so eminent, what I most value in the distinction, is
the honour and right of setting the foremost example of loyal devotion."
It was the opinion of M. des Fontanges, senator, peer of France, and
grand-master of the Imperial University, that "Reason pauses with
respect before the mystery of power and obedience, and abandons all
inquiry into its nature to that religion which made the persons of kings
sacred, after the image of God himself. It is His voice which humbles
anarchy and factions, in proclaiming the divine right of sovereigns; it
is the Deity himself who has made it an unalterable maxim of France, an
unchangeable article of the law of our fathers; it is Nature who
appoints kings to succeed each other, while reason declares that the
royalty itself is immutable. Permit, sire," he continued, "that the
University of Paris turn their eyes for a moment from the throne which
you fill with so much glory, to the august cradle of the heir of your
grandeur. We unite him with your Majesty in the love and respect we owe
to both; and swear to him beforehand the same boundless devotion which
we owe to your Majesty."
In better taste, because with less affectation of eloquence, M. Seguier,
the President of the Court of Paris, contented himself with declaring,
that the magistrates of Paris were the surest supports of the Imperial
authority--that their predecessors had encountered perils in defence of
monarchy, and they in their turn were ready to sacrifice every thing for
the sacred person of the Emperor, and for perpetuating his dynasty.
Under cover of these violent protestations, the unfortunate Frochot
escaped, as a disabled vessel drops out of the line of battle under fire
of her consorts. He was divested of his offices, but permitted to
retire, either to prosecute his studies in ideology, or to indoctrinate
himself into more deep acquaintance in the mysteries of hereditary right
than he had hitherto shown himself possessed of.[244]
We have selected the above examples, not with the purpose of inquiring
whether the orators (whom we believe, in their individual capacity, to
have been men of honour and talents) did or did not redeem, by their
after-exertions, the pledges of which they were so profuse; but to mark
with deep reprobation the universal system of assentation and
simulation, to which even such men did not disdain to lend countenance
and example. By such overstrained flatteries and protestations,
counsellors are degraded and princes are misled--truth and sincere
advice become nauseous to the ear of the sovereign, falsehood grows
familiar to the tongue of the subject, and public danger is not
discovered until escape or rescue has become impossible.
Yet it cannot be denied that the universal tenor of these vows and
protestations, supported by Buonaparte's sudden arrival and firm
attitude, had the effect of suppressing for a time discontents, which
were silently making way amongst the French people. The more unthinking
were influenced by the tenor of sentiments which seemed to be universal
through the empire; and, upon the whole, this universal tide of
assentation operated upon the internal doubts, sorrows, discontents, and
approaching disaffection of the empire, like an effusion of oil on the
surface of a torrent, whose murmurs it may check, and whose bubbling
ripples it may smooth to the eye, but the deep and dark energy of whose
course the unction cannot in reality check or subdue.
To return to the current of our history. Buonaparte having tried the
temper of his Senate, and not finding reason to apprehend any opposition
among his subjects, proceeded, while straining every effort, as we shall
presently see, for supporting foreign war, to take such means as were in
his power for closing domestic wounds, which were the more dangerous
that they bled inwardly, without any external effusion to indicate their
existence.
The chief of these dissensions was the dispute with the Pope, which had
occasioned, and continued to foster, so much scandal in the Gallican
Church. We have mentioned already, that the Pope, refusing to consent to
any alienation of his secular dominions, had been forcibly carried off
from Rome, removed to Grenoble, then brought back over the Alps to
Savona, in Italy. Napoleon, who denied that he had authorised this usage
towards the father of the Church, yet continued to detain him at Savona.
He was confined there until June, 1812. In the meantime, a deputation of
the French bishops were sent with a decree by Napoleon, determining,
that if his holiness should continue to refuse canonical institution to
the French clergy, as he had done ever since the seizure of the city of
Rome, and the patrimony of Saint Peter's, a council of prelates should
be held for the purpose of pronouncing his deposition.
On 4th September, 1811, the holy father admitted the deputation,
listened to their arguments with patience, then knelt down before them,
and repeated the psalm, _Judica me, Domine_. When the prelates attempted
to vindicate themselves, Pius VII., in an animated tone, threatened to
fulminate an excommunication against any one who should attempt to
justify his conduct. Then, instantly recovering his natural benignity of
disposition, he offered his hand to the offended bishops, who kissed it
with reverence. The French prelates took leave sorrowfully, and in
tears. Several of them showed themselves afterwards opposed to the views
of Napoleon, and sustained imprisonment in consequence of their adhesion
to what appeared to them their duty.
The chemists of our time have discovered, that some substances can only
be decomposed in particular varieties of gas; and apparently it was, in
like manner, found that the air of Italy only confirmed the
inflexibility of the Pope.
[Sidenote: INTERVIEW WITH PIUS VII.]
His Holiness was hastily transported to Fontainbleau, where he arrived
19th June, 1812. The French historians boast, that the old man was not
thrown into a dungeon, but, on the contrary, was well lodged in the
palace, and was permitted to attend mass--a wonderful condescension
towards the head of the Catholic religion. But still he was a captive.
He abode at Fontainbleau till Napoleon's return from Russia; and it was
on the 19th January, 1813, that the Emperor, having left Saint Cloud
under pretext of a hunting-party, suddenly presented himself before his
venerable prisoner. He exerted all the powers of influence which he
possessed, and they were very great, to induce the Pontiff to close with
his propositions; and we readily believe that the accounts, which charge
him with having maltreated his person, are not only unauthenticated, but
positively false.[245] He rendered the submission which he required more
easy to the conscience of Pius VII., by not demanding from him any
express cession of his temporal rights, and by granting a delay of six
months on the subject of canonical instalment. Eleven articles were
agreed on, and subscribed by the Emperor and the Pope.
But hardly was this done ere the feud broke out afresh. It was of
importance to Napoleon to have the schism soldered up as soon as
possible, since the Pope refused to acknowledge the validity of his
second marriage, and, of course, to ratify the legitimacy of his son.
He, therefore, published the articles of treaty in the _Moniteur_, as
containing a new concordat.[246] The Pope complained of this, stating,
that the articles published were not a concordat in themselves, but only
the preliminaries, on which, after due consideration, such a treaty
might have been formed. He was indignant at what he considered as
circumvention on the part of the Emperor of France, and refused to abide
by the alleged concordat. Thus failed Napoleon's attempt to close the
schism of the Church, and the ecclesiastical feuds recommenced with more
acrimony than ever.
Looking towards Spain, Napoleon saw his affairs there in a better
posture than he could have expected, after the battle of Salamanca, and
the capture of Madrid. Lord Wellington, indifferently supported by the
Spanish army, among whom quarrels and jealousies soon rose high, had
been unable, from want of a sufficient battering-train, to take the
fortress of Burgos; and was placed in some danger of being intercepted
by Soult's army, who had raised the siege of Cadiz, while engaged with
that under D'Erlon, with whom was the intrusive King. The English
general, therefore, with his usual prudence, retreated into the
territories of Portugal, and Napoleon, seeing that his army in Spain
amounted to 270,000 men, thought them more than sufficient to oppose
what forces Spain could present, with the regular allied army of perhaps
70,000 at most, under Lord Wellington's command. He withdrew,
accordingly, 150 skeletons of battalions, which he meant to make the
means of disciplining his young conscripts.
[Sidenote: EXERTIONS TO RECRUIT THE ARMY.]
It was now that the hundred cohorts, or 100,000 youths of the First Ban
of National Guards, who had been placed in frontier garrisons, under the
declaration that they were not, under any pretence, to go beyond the
limits of France, were converted into ordinary soldiers of the line, and
destined to fill up the skeleton corps which were brought from Spain.
Four regiments of guards, one of Polish cavalry, and one of gendarmes,
were at the same time withdrawn from the Peninsula. The sailors of the
French fleet, whose services were now indeed perfectly nominal, were
landed, or brought rather from the harbours and maritime towns in which
they loitered away their time, and formed into corps of artillery. This
reinforcement might comprehend 40,000 men. But while his credit
continued with the nation, the conscription was Napoleon's best and
never-failing resource, and with the assistance of a decree of the
Senate, it once more placed in his hands the anticipation of the year
1814. This decree carried his levies of every kind to 350,000 men.
The remounting and recruiting of the cavalry was a matter of greater
difficulty, and to that task was to be joined the restoration of the
artillery and _materiel_ of the army, all of which had been utterly
destroyed in the late fatal retreat. But the vaults under the Tuileries
were not yet exhausted, although they had contributed largely to the
preparations for the campaign of the preceding year. A profusion of
treasure was expended; every artisan, whose skill could be made use of,
was set to work; horses were purchased or procured in every direction;
and such was the active spirit of Napoleon, and the extent of his
resources, that he was able to promise to the Legislative
Representatives, that he would, without augmenting the national burdens,
provide the sum of three hundred millions of francs, which were wanted
to repair the losses of the Russian campaign.
We must not forget, that one of the ways and means of recruiting the
cavalry, was a species of conscription of a new invention, and which was
calculated to sweep into the ranks of the army the youth of the higher
ranks, whom the former draughts had spared, or who had redeemed
themselves from the service by finding a substitute. Out of this class,
hitherto exempted from the conscription, Napoleon proposed to levy
10,000 youths of the higher ranks, to be formed into four regiments of
Guards of Honour, who were to be regarded much as the troops of the
royal household under the old system. This idea was encouraged among the
courtiers and assentators, who represented the well-born and
well-educated youths, as eager to exchange their fowling-pieces for
muskets, their shooting-dresses for uniforms, and their rustic life for
the toils of war. Politicians saw in it something of a deeper design
than the mere adding ten thousand to the mass of recruits, and conceived
that this corps of proprietors was proposed with the view of bringing
into the Emperor's power a body of hostages, who should guarantee the
fidelity of their fathers. The scheme, however, was interrupted, and for
a time laid aside, owing to the jealousy of the Imperial Guard. These
Prætorian Bands did not relish the introduction of such patrician corps
as those proposed, whose privileges they conceived might interfere with
their own; and accordingly the institution of the Guard of Honour was
for some time suspended.
The wonderful energies of Napoleon's mind, and the influence which he
could exert over the minds of others, were never so striking as at this
period of his reign. He had returned to his seat of empire at a dreadful
crisis, and in a most calamitous condition. His subjects had been
ignorant, for six weeks, whether he was dead or alive, and a formidable
conspiracy, which was all but successful, had at once shown that there
was an awakening activity amongst his secret enemies, and an apathy and
indifference amongst his apparent friends. When he arrived, it was to
declare a dreadful catastrophe, of which his ambition had been the
cause; the loss of 500,000 men, with all their arms, ammunition and
artillery; the death of so many children of France as threw the whole
country into mourning. He had left behind him cold and involuntary
allies, changing fast into foes, and foes, encouraged by his losses and
his flight, threatening to combine Europe in one great crusade, having
for its object the demolition of his power. No sovereign ever presented
himself before his people in a situation more precarious, or overclouded
by such calamities, arrived or in prospect.
Yet Napoleon came, and seemed but to stamp on the earth, and armed
legions arose at his call; the doubts and discontents of the public
disappeared as mists at sun-rising, and the same confidence which had
attended his prosperous fortunes revived in its full extent, despite of
his late reverses. In the month of April his army was increased, as we
have seen, by 350,000 men, in addition to the great garrisons maintained
in Dantzic, Thorn, Modlin, Zamosk, Czenstochau, Custrin, &c., augmented
as they now were by the remains of the grand army, which had found
refuge in these places of strength. He had, besides, an active levy of
forces in Italy, and a very large army in Spain, notwithstanding all the
draughts which his present necessity had made him bring out of that
slaughter-house. Whether, therefore, it was Napoleon's purpose to
propose peace or carry on war, he was at the head of a force little
inferior to that which he had heretofore commanded.
Having thus given some account of the internal state of France, it is
now necessary to look abroad, and examine the consequences of the
Russian campaign upon Europe in general.
FOOTNOTES:
[237] "This was, on Napoleon's part, a new snare held out to the
devotedness and credulity of a generous nation; who, struck with
consternation, thought that their chief, chastened by misfortune, was
ready to seize the first favourable opportunity of bringing back peace,
and of at length consolidating the foundation of general
happiness."--FOUCHÉ, tom. ii., p. 118.
[238] "I shall make two observations on this passage: 1st, I am
persuaded that this conspiracy was the work of the Jacobin faction, who
always laid in wait to profit by every favourable occasion. This opinion
is confirmed by many of the avowals which escaped Fouché in his memoirs.
2dly, The fallacy of the sentiment attributed by Sir Walter Scott to the
notion with respect to Napoleon, is proved by the slight success of this
conspiracy, when he was not only absent, but as well as his armies, at
so considerable a distance from France; it is also proved by his return
from the island of Elba, in the month of March, 1815. I think that all
those who would after this deny the attachment of the nation to the
Emperor, would also deny the light of day."--LOUIS BUONAPARTE, p. 86.
[239] "A secret society in the army, whose immediate object it was to
overthrow the Imperial power, and whose ultimate purposes were not
perhaps known to themselves. Their founder was Colonel Jacques Joseph
Odet, a Swiss, at once a debauchee and an enthusiast, on the plan of his
countryman Rousseau. He was shot the night before the battle of Wagram,
not, as his followers alleged, by a party of Austrians, but by
gendarmes, commissioned for that purpose. His sect continued to subsist,
and Massena did not escape suspicions of being implicated in its
intrigues. There was a communication in their name to Lord Wellington,
in May 1809; but the negotiation was not of a character which the
British general chose to encourage."--SOUTHEY'S _Peninsular War_, vol.
ii., p. 303.--S.
[240] Savary, tom. iii., pp. 13, 32; Fouché, tom. ii., pp. 109, 116.
[241] "Mallet died with great _sang froid_, carrying with him the secret
of one of the boldest _coups-de-main_ which the grand epocha of our
Revolution bequeaths to history."--FOUCHÉ, tom. ii., p. 115.
[242] The Memoirs of Fouché contain a specific averment to this
effect.--S.
[243] Moniteur, Dec. 21, 1812; Fouché, tom. ii., p. 120.
[244] He obtained a pension on the restoration of Louis XVIII., with the
title of honorary counsellor, which he had forfeited in July, 1815, in
consequence of having accepted, during the Hundred Days, the situation
of Prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhone. He died in 1828.
[245] "I knew Pius the Seventh from the time of his journey to Paris in
1804, and from that period until his death I never ceased to receive
from the venerable Pontiff marks, not of benevolence only, but even of
confidence and affection. Since the year 1814 I have resided at Rome: I
have often had occasion to see him, and I can affirm, that in many of my
interviews with his holiness, he assured me that he was treated by
Napoleon, in every personal respect, as he could have wished. These are
his very words:--'Personalmente non ho avuto di che dolermi; non ho mai
mancato di nulla; la mia persona fu sempre rispettata e trattata in modo
da non potermi lagnare.' 'I had nothing to complain of personally; I
wanted for nothing; my person was always respected, and treated in a way
to afford me no ground of complaint.'"--LOUIS BUONAPARTE.
[246] See Moniteur, Feb. 15, 1813.