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the highest pinnacle of glory, mais pour y arriver, it commit beaucoup de crimes, (but to attain it, he has committed many crimes).' Now the fact is, that I not only never committed any erimes, but I never even thought of doing so. J'ai toujours marché avec L'opinion de grandes masses et les évènemens, (I have always gone with the opinion of great masses, and with events). I have always made peu de cas of the opinion of individuals, of that of the public a great deal; of what use, then, would crime have been to me? I am too much a fatalist, and have always despised mankind too much, to have had recourse to crime to frustrate their attempts. J'ai marché toujours avec l'opinion de cinq ou six millions d'hommes, (I have always marched with the opinion of five or six millions of men); of what use, then, would crime have been to me?

In spite of all the libels," continued he, "I have no fear whatever about my fame. Posterity will do me justice. The truth will be known, and the good which I have done, with the faults which I have committed, will be compared. I am not uneasy for the result. Had I succeeded, I should have died with the reputation of the greatest man that ever existed. As it is, although I have failed, I shall be considered as an extraordinary man: my elevation was unparalleled, because unaccompanied by crime. I have fought fifty pitched battles, almost all of which I have gained. I have framed and carried into effect a code of laws, that will bear my name to the most distant posterity. From nothing I raised myself to be the most powerful monarch in the world. Europe was at my feet. My ambition was great, I admit, but it was of a cold nature, (d'une nature froide,) and caused par les évènemens, (by events,) and the opinion of great bodies. I have always been of opinion, that the sovereignty lay in the people. In fact, the Imperial government was a kind of republie, Called to the head of it by the voice of the nation, my maxim was la carrière ouverte aux talens, (the career open to talents,) without distinction of birth or fortune, and this system of equality is the reason that your oligarchy hate me so much."

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At p. 191. vol. i. is an interesting conversation on the Russian campaign, which, however, gives no material new information. Napoleon ascribed his failure to the extreme and premature cold, and to the burning of Moscow; of which latter event he concluded by saying, "It was the spectacle of a sea and billows of fire, a sky and clouds of flame; mountains of red rolling flames, like immense waves of the sea, alternately bursting forth and elevating themselves to skies of fire, and then sinking into the ocean of flame below. Oh, it was the most grand, the most sublime, and the most terrific sight the world ever beheld!!"

It has sometimes been doubted whether Napoleon ever received any serious wound, but we find him informing Mr. O'Meara that he had once been severely hurt, viz. by a bayonet, above the left knee, which at one time threatened to require

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amputation; that he had been slightly hurt many times; and that eighteen or nineteen horses had been shot under him.

On several occasions, the Ex-Emperor volunteered his opinions respecting England, both in its external and its internal relations. It will not surprize our readers to learn that, in order to liquidate the national debt, he said, were heat the head of affairs,' he would reduce excessively the Church-revenues. Respecting the Catholics, he observed:

"If you emancipated the Catholics, they would readily pay an immense sum towards liquidating the nation's debt. I cannot conceive why your ministers have not emancipated them. At the time that all nations are emerging from illiberality and intolerance, you retain your disgraceful laws, which are only worthy of two or three centuries back. When the Catholic question was first seriously agitated, I would have given fifty millions to be assured that it would not be granted; for it would have entirely ruined my projects upon Ireland; as the Catholics, if you emancipated them, would become as loyal subjects as the Protestants. I would," continued he, "impose a tax of fifty per cent. upon absentees, and perhaps diminish the interest upon the debt."

I made some observations upon the intolerance which had been manifested on some occasions by the Catholics.

"The inability to rise above a certain rank, and to be members of parliament, and other persecutions once removed from your Catholic brethren," replied he, "you will find that they will be no longer intolerant or fanatical. Fanaticism is always the child of persecution. That intolerance which you complain of, is also the result of your oppressive laws. Remove them once, and put them on a similar footing with the Protestants, and in a few years you will find the spirit of intolerance disappear. Do as I did in France with the Protestants."

He frequently asserted his friendly intentions with regard to England, and declared that after the treaty of Amiens he would have made a good peace with us; that he was always ready to conclude a peace on terms equally advantageous to both parties: but that our ministers always refused to make one on equal terms. His opinion of the state of England since the cessation of war was unfavourable in all respects.

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"It appears to me to be clearly the intention of your minis. ters to subject England to a military yoke, to put down by degrees the liberty which prevails there, and to render their own power unlimited. All those honours conferred upon the military, and the tenor of several other steps lately adopted, are only so many preliminaries towards it. I can discern their object. Assistance, if necessary, will probably be rendered by the other sovereigns of Europe, who are jealous, and cannot bear the idea that England should be the only free nation in Europe. They will all assist in putting you down." I observed that the English would never sub

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mit to be made a nation of slaves. He replied, "There is every appearance that the attempt will be made."

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"What would those Englishmen, who lived one hundred years ago, say, if they could rise from their graves, be informed of your glorious successes, cast their eyes upon England, witness her distress, and be informed, that in the treaty of peace not a single article for the benefit of England had been stipulated! that, on the contrary, you had given up conquests and commercial rights necessary to your existence. When Austria gained ten millions of inhabitants, Russia eight, Prussia ten, Holland, Bavaria, Sardinia, and every other power, obtained an increase of territory, why not England? who was the main organ of all the success. Instead of establishing a number of independent maritime states, such as Hamburg, Stralsund, Dantzic, Genoa, to serve as entrepôts for your manufactures, with conditions, either secret or otherwise, favourable to your commerce, you have basely given up Genoa to the King of Sardinia, and united Belgium to Holland. You have rendered yourselves hated by the Italians and Belgians, and have done irreparable injury to your trade. For, although it is a great point for you, that Belgium should be separated from France, it is a serious disadvantage to you that she should be united to Holland. Holland has no manufactories, and consequently would have become a depôt for yours, from whence a prodigious influx would be kept up in the Continent. Now, however, that Belgium has been made a part of Holland, this last will naturally prefer taking the manufactures of her subjects to those of a stranger, and all Belgium may be called a manufacturing town. Independent of this, in case of any future war with France, Holland must join the latter through fear of losing the provinces of Belgium. - You are nearly as effectually shut out from the Continent, as when I reigned and promulgated the continental system. I ask you what peace dictated by me, supposing that I had been victorious, could have been worse in its effects for England, than the one made by Lord Castlereagh, when she was triumphant? - Your meddling in continental affairs, and trying to make yourselves a great military power, instead of attending to the sea and commerce, will yet be your ruin as a nation. You were greatly offended with me for having called you a nation of shopkeepers. Had I meant by this, that you were a nation of cowards, you would have had reason to be displeased; even though it were ridiculous and contrary to historical facts; but no such thing was ever intended. I meant that you were a nation of merchants, and that all your great riches and your grand resources arose from commerce, which is true. What else constitutes the riches of England. It is not extent of territory, or a numerous population. It is not mines of gold, silver, or diamonds. Moreover, no man of sense ought to be ashamed of being called a shopkeeper. But your prince and your ministers appear to wish to change altogether l'esprit of the English, and to render you another nation; to make you ashamed of your shops and your trade, which have made you what you are, and to sigh after nobility, titles, and crosses; in fact to assimilate you

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with the French. What other object can there be in all those cordons, crosses, and honours, which are so profusely showered. You are all nobility now, instead of the plain old Englishmen. You are ashamed of yourselves, and want to be a nation of nobility and gentlemen.* Nothing is to be seen or heard of now in England, but Sir John,' and My Lady.' All those things did very well with me in France, because they were conformable to the spirit of the nation, but believe me, it is contrary both to the spirit and the interest of England. Stick to your ships, your commerce, and counting-houses, and leave cordons, crosses, and cavalry uniforms to the Continent, and you will prosper. Lord Castlereagh himself was ashamed of your being called a nation of merchants, and frequently said in France, that it was a mistaken idea to suppose that England depended upon commerce, or was indebted to it for her riches; and added that it was not by any means necessary to her. How I laughed when I heard of this false pride. He betrayed his country at the peace. I do not mean to say," continued he, laying his hand over his heart, "that he did it from here, but he betrayed it by neglecting its interests. He was in fact the commis of the allied sovereigns. Perhaps he wanted to convince them that you were not a nation of merchants, by shewing clearly that you would not make any advantageous bargain for yourselves, by magnanimously giving up every thing, that nations might cry, Oh! how nobly England has behaved.' Had he attended to the interest of his own country, had he stipulated for commercial treaties, for the independence of some maritime states and towns, for certain advantages to be secured to England, to indemnify her for the waste of blood, and the enormous sacrifices she had made, why then they might have said, What a mercenary people, they are truly a nation of merchants; see what bargains they want to make: and Lord Castlereagh would not have been so well received in the drawing-rooms!

"Talent he may have displayed in some instances," continued the Emperor, "and great pertinacity in accomplishing my downfal; but as to knowledge of, or attention to, the interests of his own country, he has manifested neither the one nor the other. Probably for a thousand years, such another opportunity of aggrandizing England will not occur. In the position of affairs, nothing could have been refused to you."

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"England to recover herself must renew her commerce; in a few words, she must no longer be a continental power. She must proceed in her proper sphere, as an insular power possessing the command of the sea. You must not continue to be all gentlemen," said he, "as Lord Castlereagh wishes. You must return to your ships. You want old Lord Chatham for a prime minister. You require able men. My opinion is, that if something be not soon done, you will be obliged to act as I did in Holland - reduce the interest of the funds to two per cent. So well assured and

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* This he said in English, as well as the words marked with commas, which follow,'

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convinced am I that there will be a bankruptcy, more or less serious, that I would not place money in the English funds. This distress of yours is one of the consequences of the holy alliance. All the continental powers will endeavour to bridle (raffrenare) you, and unite against you as they have done against me, when I was more powerful than all of them put together. The only way to prevent it is by placing yourselves in such a situation as to command respect, and to make them court you, instead of you courting them; which can never be the case as long as you have an army on the Continent." "

Napoleon's intention to invade India is acknowleged and explained, and he said that the Emperor Paul was engaged with him in the plan:

My troops were to have gone to Warsaw, to be joined by the Russians and Cossacs, and to have marched from thence to the Caspian Sea, where they would have either embarked, or have proceeded by land, according to circumstances. I was beforehand with you, in sending an ambassador on to Persia to make interest there. Since that time, your ministers have been imbéciles enough to allow the Russians to get four provinces, which increase their territories beyond the mountains. The first year of war that you will have with the Russians, they will take India from you."

I asked, then, if it were true that Alexander had intended to have seized upon Turkey? Napoleon answered, " All his thoughts are directed to the conquest of Turkey. We have had many discussions together about it; at first I was pleased with his proposals, because I thought it would enlighten the world to drive those brutes, the Turks, out of Europe. But when I reflected upon the consequences, and saw what a tremendous weight of power it would give to Russia, in consequence of the numbers of Greeks in the Turkish dominions, who would naturally join the Russians, I refused to consent to it, especially as Alexander wanted to get Constantinople, which I would not allow, as it would have destroyed the equilibrium of power in Europe. I reflected that France would gain Egypt, Syria, and the islands, which would have been nothing in comparison with what Russia would have obtained. I considered that the barbarians of the north were already too powerful, and probably in the course of time would overwhelm all Europe, as I now think they will. Austria already trembles; Russia and Prussia united, Austria falls, and England cannot prevent it. France under the present family is nothing, and the Austrians are so lâches, that they will be easily overpowered. Una nazione a colpo di bastone. They will offer little resistance to the Russians, who are brave and patient. Russia is the more formidable, because she can never disarm. In Russia, once a soldier, always a soldier."'

A curious assertion is made with regard to a communication from Louis XVIII. after the battle of Marengo, of which,

* Means a nation that may be ruled by blows,'

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