In reality the czar was deeply offended. He was opposed to an alliance, but was incensed at the way in which the negotiation for the hand of his sister had been both carried on and broken off.

A letter addressed to the minister of finance on the 17th shows that Napoleon made 150,000,000f. by the sale of mortmain property in his Roman departments.

On the 19th M. de Champagny was directed to tell Caulaincourt to deny in conversation the report of a union between a French princess and the Prince Royal of Sweden. We shall see how a French woman afterwards became Queen of Sweden.

On the 19th May Murat was complimented on the courage shown by his navy. He was then told to remember that he had been on the throne for two years, and that for the last year he should have had a ship of the line and a frigate. If that had been the case he would not see Naples blockaded by an English ship rasé. "If," added the Emperor, "you understand the interests of your people you will have an 80-gun ship by the end of the year. The Neapolitans would gladly pay 10 per cent. extra in the way of taxes. The English have a squadron at Venice, where I shall soon have five vessels; they have squadrons in the Baltic, on the Dutch coast, off Rochefort, Toulon, Lorient, Cherbourg, and Flushing, where at present I have fifteen ships of war. Should the war continue until 1812 I shall have in my ports and in those of

my allies 100 ships. . . . Adopt measures so as to have an 80-gun ship this year, and five by the end of 1812, and then the English will not come and blockade you."

The next day his Majesty wrote to his minister of marine, saying

"I intend going to Havre. Let me know if the frigate La Gloire can be launched while I am there. Let me also know if the two frigates L'Oder and La Perle, which ought to be finished at Dunkirk, can be launched in my presence.

Let me know also when L'Iphigénie will be launched at Cherbourg; when La Clorinde and La Renommée will be in the roads at Brest; when the Nestor will be floated there; Le Pregel at St. Malo; L'Jena at Rochefort; Le Wagram and Le Spectre at Toulon.

"NAPOLEON."

In consequence of Louis not wishing, or not being able, to adhere to his engagements, Napoleon wrote him on the 20th May (letter not given in The Correspondence), saying

"The die is cast: you are incorrigible. Advice and affection having failed, I must resort to threats and force. What are these prayers and mysterious fasts which you have ordered? Louis, you do not wish to reign any longer; your actions reveal your sentiments better than your letters.

Listen to a man who knows more of the world than you do. Return to the right road. Act like a Frenchman, or your own people will drive you from the country; you will leave Holland an object of pity, and you will be the laughing-stock of the Dutch. It is with reason and with political acumen that states are governed, and not with a vitiated and lymphatic temperament." Poor Louis, previously taunted with sacrificing the interests of his Catholic subjects, was now accused of bigotry. As for the dilapidated state of his health, the fruit of youthful indiscretions in Italy, Napoleon was never tired of raking up that misfortune to which he attributed all the backslidings of his brother.

To MARSHAL BERTHIER.

"DIEPPE, 27th May, 1810. "Write to the King of Spain, saying that I am sorry to see this extensive arming of Spaniards, which is only fit to prolong resistance and to cause the blood of French soldiers to flow; that when one has been so often deceived it is difficult to understand so much obstinacy. Write to Massena that the English army is 23,000 strong, and that of

the Portuguese 22,000; that he must therefore have more troops than are necessary to beat the English, should they try and hinder the siege of Ciudad-Rodrigo. . . . Write to the King of Spain that as the English alone are to be feared, he should place Regnier with the second corps under the orders of Massena to manœuvre on the right bank of the Tagus.

"NAPOLEON."

Massena had over 50,000 men under his orders without Regnier's corps. Napoleon had himself frequently ordered Joseph to raise Spanish troops.

That all the Spanish troops in the French service had not the good luck to escape like Romana's corps is shown by the following letter.

To GENERAL CLARKE.

"HAVRE, 29th May, 1810.

"Inform the King of Spain that I cannot send him the regiment Joseph-Napoléon, which is animated with so bad a spirit that the officers have demanded its withdrawal from the frontiers of Spain; that he can judge from this fact how impolitic and inconsiderate his Spanish levies are. "NAPOLEON."

On the same day Berthier was directed to write again to Massena, saying that Wellington had only 24,000 men and the Portuguese 25,000. "But," added Napoleon, "I do not wish to enter Lisbon at present, because I could not feed the city, whose immense population draws its provisions by sea. Let Massena employ the summer in taking CiudadRodrigo and Almeida. . .

Berthier was also to send to the Moniteur an account of the fall of Leridon, and to levy a contribution of several millions upon that place.

TO THE EMPRESS.

(Letter not dated.)

"MY FRIEND,-I have received your letter. Eugene will give you news of my voyage and of the empress. I approve of your taking waters, and I hope that they will do you good.

"I greatly wish to see you. If you are at the Malmaison at the end of the month I will pay you a visit.

My health is good. Let me know the name under which you will travel. will travel. Do not doubt the sincerity, &c. "NAPOLEON."

To M. FOUCHÉ.

"ST. CLOUD, 3rd June, 1810. "I have received your letter of the 2nd June. I am aware of all the services which you have rendered me, and I believe in your attachment and your zeal; however it is impossible for me to allow you to keep your portfolio. The post of minister of police requires an absolute and entire confidence, and that confidence can no longer exist, because you have compromised my tranquillity and that of the state, and this is not to be excused by the legitimacy of the motives.

"A negotiation was opened with England; conferences took place with Lord Wellesley, and that minister knew that he was spoken to on your behalf; he must have thought that it was on mine also; hence a total change in all my political relations, and, if I were to permit it, a stain upon my character, which I cannot, and will not, tolerate.

"Although I do not distrust your attachment and your fidelity, I am, however, obliged to keep up a constant supervision, which fatigues me.

"NAPOLEON."

The crime of Fouché, in a few words, was this. Napoleon had put forward his brother Louis to appeal to England

THE DISMISSAL OF FOUCHÉ.

43

to make peace, as unless peace were concluded the French Emperor would inevitably annex Holland, which would be a terrible blow to Great Britain. Negotiations were opened with the Marquis of Wellesley through the medium of the Dutch banker Labouchère, who was to point out among other things that in refusing to make peace England had already lost Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Trieste, and would soon lose Holland, the Hanse towns, and Sicily. The terms upon which peace was indirectly offered were of course quite unacceptable. Fouché took it into his head to negotiate on his own account, and sent an Irish officer called Fagan to London with far more acceptable terms than those offered by M. Labouchère, but the British Government did not consider that Fagan had sufficient authority to negotiate. When Napoleon learned that Fouché had been meddling in this way he was highly incensed, although naturally nothing could have eventually come of the Fagan negotiation without the consent of the Emperor. Perhaps there were other reasons mixed up with the disgrace of the minister of police. Fouché had made friends with Talleyrand, he was on good terms with Napoleon's brother, and he was suspected of having warned Lucien of the wrath that was coming, and of having thus enabled him to make his escape from Rome, and to throw himself into the arms of the English. Napoleon at first thought of having Fouché executed for the crime of lèse majeste.

A second letter, written on the same day, informed the fallen minister that the Emperor conferred upon him the governorship of Rome; and on the 5th June the Emperor wrote to Maret, Duc de Bassano, to go and see the Duc d'Otrante, and to ask him to give up all the documents, whether written in visible or in invisible ink. Maret, too, was to persuade Fouché to leave the police office at once, and afterwards to turn the conversation on Rome, and to try and persuade him to start for the Holy City before the 15th, his presence being much required there.