fermentation in the interior of the kingdom. It was represented to him as a conspiracy; Bonaparte, alarmed, re-entered France. The conspiracy vanished, like a phantom, when he re-entered Paris. He departed for the north; fortune which had opposed him in the south, seemed to prepare new obstacles for him. His victories are more sanguinary and mixed with reverses. The English make a descent at Walcheren. The Duke of Otranto, who was then charged with the administration of the interior and of the police, caused a numerous national guard to be every where raised. "Let us prove," said he, "to Europe, that if the genius of Bonaparte can give splendour to France by his victories, his presence is not necessary to repel our enemies!"

The impulse given to the nation was general, The English hastened to re-embark. Bonaparte made peace at Vienna, and returned quickly to Paris. The national guard was disbanded, and the minister who had

dared to say that Bonaparte was not necessary was disgraced.

Bonaparte, to conciliate public opinion, appointed his disgraced minister governor of Rome; but before his departure he sent to him General Berthier Prince of Neufchâtel, to demand his correspondence; the Duke of Otranto replied, that that correspondence was his guarantee, that he would not deliver it up, and as this request was accompanied by menaces; "Go, report to your master," said the Duke, "that for twenty-five years I have been accustomed to sleep with my head on the scaffold. I know the effects of power, I do not fear them."

It was then that the Duke was exiled to Aix, in Provence; from whence he was shortly after recalled by Bonaparte. The first interview was not a fortunate one; the Russian war did not accord better with the principles of the minister than that of Spain had done. The Duke retired to his estate. Bonaparte

wrote to him from Dresden to come and join him. The Duke's ideas of peace and moderation displeased; Bonaparte ordered him to repair to Illyria, to take upon him the

ment of that province.

govern

The Duke of Otranto was scarcely in Illyria when war broke out. Having no force to oppose to the invasion of the enemy, he returned to France, when he received from Bonaparte a letter, which commanded him to go to Naples. The Duke gave to that court all the counsels which wisdom and circumstances prescribed. If King Joachim had followed his advice, he would not have taken the path which leads to catastrophes.

It is of importance, in order to give an idea of the style in which the Duke wrote to Bonaparte and to King Joachim, and of his counsels at the critical situation in which Europe then was, to make known the two following letters:

The Duke of Otranto to the Emperor Napoleon.

Rome, Dec. 27, 1813.

I have taken leave of the King of Naples; I must not dissemble to Your Majesty any of the causes which have arrested the natural activity of this Prince. The

1st, Is the uncertainty in which You have left him as to the command of the armies of Italy. The King, in the two last campaigns has given You so many proofs of his devotedness and of his military qualities, that he expected to receive from You that mark of confidence. He feels himself humbled at once by Your suspicions, and by the idea of being placed on the same level with your generals.

2d. It is incessantly said to the King: if to preserve Italy to the Emperor, you leave your kingdom unprovided with troops, the English there make landings and excite seditions, so much the more dangerous as the Neapolitans complain loudly of the influence of

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France in what state, add they, is that em pire? Without army; discouraged by a campaign, which its enemies do not consider as the end of its evils, since the Rhine is no longer a barrier, and since the Emperor, far from being able to secure Italy, can scarcely oppose the invasion of his frontiers of Germany, Switzerland, and Spain. Think of yourself, they write to him from Paris; depend only upon yourself. The Emperor can no longer do any thing even for France, how should he guarantee your States? If in the period of his full power he had the idea of uniting Naples to the empire, what sacrifice. would he be induced to make for you? he would sacrifice you at present for a fortified

town.

3d. On the other side, Your enemies op pose to the picture of the situation of France that of the immense advantages which his accession to the coalition presents to the King this Prince consolidates his throne,