78 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



annotated my remarks, was of a character to be taken 

 into consideration, and proved to me that the persons 

 who a few days before were resolved to throw diffi- 

 culties in the way of all attempts at conciliation were 

 no longer masters of the situation. The accompanying 

 documents and the verbal explanations which you will 

 doubtless receive from Colonel de Maubeuge will 

 show you the unexpected and to me very painful 

 behaviour of General Oudinot, who has hampered 

 my operations and was on the point of foiling them 

 altogether. In spite of an opposition and of diffi- 

 culties which I ought not to have had to meet, an 

 arrangement has been come to between the Eoman 

 authorities and myself. 



" I have the honour of sending to you one of the 

 three original documents, of which a second is in 

 the hands of the Triumvirate and a third in those of 

 General Oudinot. You will observe that I have 

 suppressed Article II. of the previous project, in 

 which mention was made of the right of the Eoman 

 people to select their own form of government, a right 

 which it would be hard for us to question, but the 

 recognition of which, according to M. de Eayneval, 

 had very considerably increased the susceptibilities 



felt at Gaeta My position at head-quarters 



would be as false as it would be at Eome. I therefore 

 consider my mission as at an end, or at all events as 

 being of necessity suspended, and I am about to 

 make over to M. Gerando the supervision of the 



