STATE PAPERS. 



749 



munication of great importance ; 

 for this purpose, we have ordered 

 that this present private letter 

 should be sent to you. We pray 

 God to have you my cousin in his 

 holy and blessed keeping. Paris, 

 15th December, 1809." 



On the l)ack is written — ' To our 

 cousin the prince arch-chancellor 

 duke of Parma.' 



We accordingly proceeded to the 

 hall of the throne of the palace of 

 the Thuilleries, attended by Mi- 

 chel Louis Etienne Regnault (de 

 St. Jean d'Angely) count of the 

 empire, minister of state, and secre- 

 tary of state to the imperial family. 

 A quarter of an hour afte.-wards we 

 were introduced to the grand cabi- 

 net of the emperor, where we 

 found his majesty the emperor and 

 king with her majesty the empress, 

 attended by their majesties, the 

 kings of Holland, Westphalia, and 

 Naples ; his imperial highness the 

 prince viceroy, the queens of Hol- 

 land, Westphalia, Naples, and Spain; 

 madame, and her imperial high- 

 ness the princess Paulina. 



His majesty the emperor and 

 king condescended to address us 

 in these terms : 



" ' MyCousinPrinceArch-Chan- 

 cellor; — I dispatched to you a pri- 

 vate letter, dated this day, to direct 

 you to repair to my cabinet, for the 

 purpose of communicating to you 

 the resolution which I, and the em- 

 press, my dearest consort, have 

 taken. It gives me pleasure, that 

 the kings, queens, and princesses, 

 .my brothers and sisters-in-law, 

 my daughter-in-law, and my son- 

 in-law, become my adopted son, 

 as well as my mother, should wit- 

 ness what I am going to communi- 

 cate to you.' 

 *' ' The politics of my monarchy. 



the interest and the wants of my 

 people, which have constantly guid- 

 ed all ray actions, require, that af- 

 ter me I should leave to children, 

 inheritors of my love for my people, 

 that throne, on which Providence 

 has placed me ; notwithstanding foi* 

 several years past, I have lost the 

 hope of having children by my mar- 

 riage with my well-beloved consort, 

 the empress Josephine. This it is, 

 which induces me to sacrifice the 

 sweetest affections of my heart to 

 attend to nothing but the, good of 

 the slate, and to wish the dissolu- 

 tion of my marriage. Arrived at 

 the age of 40 years, I may indulge 

 the hope of living long enough to 

 educate, in my views and sentiments, 

 the children which it may pleasePro- 

 videnceto give me. God knows how 

 much such a resolution has cost my 

 heart; but there is no sacrifice be- 

 yond mycourage,when it is proved to 

 me to be necessary to the welfare of 

 France. I should add, that, far 

 from ever having had reason to 

 complain, on the contrary, I have 

 had onW to be satisfied with the at- 

 tachment and the affection of my 

 well-beloved consort. She has adorn- 

 ed fifteen years of my life, the re- 

 membrance of which will ever remain 

 engraven on my heart. She was 

 crowned by my hand, I wish she 

 should preserve the rank and title of 

 empress; .but, above all, that she 

 should never doubt my sentiments, 

 and that she should^ever regard me 

 as her best and dearest friend.' 



" His majesty the emperor and 

 king having ended, her majesty the 

 empress queen spoke as follows : 



" ' By the permission of our dear 

 and august consort, I ought to de- 

 clare, that not preserving any hope 

 of liaving children, which may ful- 

 fil the wants of his policy and the 



interests 



