PARIS. 
farther; and that, if they both were fufpended from the 
tame gibbet, it ought to be preferved as an object of public 
refpeft for the fervice it had done to mankind. The kif- 
iWieite to which I have alluded, was thus related. 
“On Napo!eon T s return to Paris, after his difaftrous de¬ 
feat at Waterloo, and when he may be fuppofed to have 
been agitated by doubt and perplexity as to the conduft 
he fhould purfue, a letter was offered to his attention by 
the duke of Otranto, as having been received by the latter 
from prince Metternich, the Auftrian minifter. It was 
dated in the preceding April; and the diplomatic writer 
ftaled the decided objeft of his imperial mailer to be the 
final expulfion of Napoleon the Firft from the throne of 
-France; and that the French nation fhould be left to 
their uninterrupted derifion, whether they would have a 
monarchy under Napoleon the Second, or adopt a repub¬ 
lican form of government. Aultria profefled to have no 
fight, and confequently felt no intention, to dictate to the 
French nation. The final and ratified expulfion of the 
traitor, (fuch was the expreffion,) is all the Auftrian em¬ 
peror demands of France. Napoleon feized the bait; and 
immediately abdicated in favour of his fons but he had 
no fooner taken this ftep, than he difcovered the double 
game that Fouche was playing. The letter was a forgery ; 
and it foon appeared, that the emperor of Auftria had it 
not in his power, if he had ever indulged the contempla¬ 
tion, to clothe hisgrandfon with a political character. 
“The name of Talleyrand happening again to occur 
in the courfe of converfation with our French (hipmates, 
the high opinion entertained of his talents by the Bona- 
partifts was acknowledged without referve. On my afk- 
ing at what period he was feparated from the councils and 
confidence of Napoleon, it was replied, at the invafion of 
Spain. I then obferved, that the reports in England re- 
fpe&ing that circumftance were correct as to time, and I 
prefumed were equally fo as to the caufe ; his unreferved 
difapprobation of that bold and adventurous enterprife. 
This met with an inftant contradi&ion ; which was fol¬ 
lowed by a moll decifive aflertion, that the prince of Be- 
nevento approved of the Spanifh war, and founded his 
recommendation of that meafure on his unalterable 
opinion, which he boldly communicated to the emperor, 
that his life was not fecure while a Bourbon reigned in 
Europe. 
“ I entered further on this fubjedt with madame Ber¬ 
trand ; and ihe aftually and moll unequivocally aflerted, 
that Talleyrand was in fecret communication with Na- 
oleon when they were laft at Paris, and that he would 
ave joined them in a month. His propofed departure 
from Vienna to take the waters at Aix-la-Chapelle was 
under the cloak of indifpofition, to conceal his duplicity. 
‘ Can you perfuade yourfelf, madame,’ I faid, ‘ that Tal¬ 
leyrand, if he had the inclination, pofleffed the power to 
influence the court of Vienna in favour of his fon-in-law.’ 
—‘The court of Vienna !’ fhe exclaimed, ‘ O yes, yes : he 
has the capacity to influence all the courts in Europe! 
If he had but joined the emperor, we fhould at this in¬ 
ftant have been in Paris, and France would never more 
have changed its mafter.’—Of this man’s virtues I heard 
no eulogium; but you will now be a competent judge how 
his political talents were appreciated in the French circle 
on-board the Northumberland. See Maleventum, vol. 
xiv. p. 194. 
“ Every one remembers the threatened invafion of 
England in 1805, and the various conjectures which were 
formed on this momentous fubjeCt. Itwasnot, according 
to my recollection, by any means generally confidered 
as practicable; nor did any very great apprehenfions pre¬ 
vail that it would be attempted. I will, however, give 
you my authority for the aCtual intention of carrying it 
into execution. Bonaparte pofitively avers it. He fays, 
that he had two hundred thoufand men on the coaft of 
France oppofite to England, and that it was his determi¬ 
nation to head them in perfon. It was hinted to him, 
however, that his flotilla was altogether infufficient; and 
557 
that fuch a fhip as the Northumberland would run down 
fifty of them. This he readily admitted : but he ftated 
that his plan was to rid the channel of Engfifh men-of- 
war; and for that purpofe he had directed admiral 
Villeneuve, with the combined fleets of France and Spain, 
to fail apparently for Martinique, for the exprefs purpofe 
of diftrafting onr naval force, by drawing after him a 
large portion, if not all, of our beft (hips. Other iqua- 
drons of obfervation would follow ; and England might, 
by thefe manoeuvres, be left fufficiently defencelefs for 
his purpofe. Villeneuve was direfted, on gaining a cer¬ 
tain latitude, to take a baffling courfe back to Europe ; 
and, having eluded the vigilance of Nelfon, to enter the 
Englifti channel. The flotilla would then have fallied 
forth from Offend, Dunkirk, Boulogne, and the adjoin¬ 
ing ports. The intention Was to have dathed at the 
capital, by the way of Chatham. He well knew, he 
added, that he fnould have to encounter many difficulties; 
the objeCf, however, was fo great as to juftify him in 
making the attempt. But Villeneuve was met on his re¬ 
turn by fir Robert Calder ; and, having fuffered a defeat, 
took refuge in Ferrol. From that harbour he was peremp¬ 
torily ordered to fea, according to his original inftruftions; 
but, contrary to their molt imperative and explicit intent, 
he fleered his courfe for Cadiz : ‘ He might as well,’ ex¬ 
claimed Napoleon, railing his voice, and increafing his 
impetuofity, ‘he might as well have gone to the Eaft In¬ 
dies.’ Two days after Villeneuve had quitted his an¬ 
chorage before Cadiz, a naval officer arrived there to 
fuperfede him. The victory of Trafalgar foon followed; 
and the French admiral died a few days after his arrival 
in France: report lays, by his own hand. 
“On our approach to Madeira, the hazy Hate of the 
atmofphere precluded the poflibility of feeing the illand, 
until we got clofe between Puerto Santo and the Deferts. 
The latter rocky illand is almoft perpendicular; and has 
fome flight refemblance to St. Helena. This circumftance 
I mentioned to Las Cafes, and he initantly communicated 
it to Napoleon, who had quitted the dinner-table fooner 
than ufual, and joined a few of us on the poop : but the 
comparifon of what he now faw with his gloomy notions 
of the place where he was fhortly to abide, produced not 
a Angle word : he gave an energetic Ihrug, and a kind of 
contemptuous fmile ; and that was all. The Hoping 
front and luxuriant afpeft of the illand of Madeira could 
not but excite an unpleafant fenfation, when contrafted 
with the idea he had entertained of the huge black rock 
of St. Helena. I had prefented Johnfon’s work on the 
influence of Tropical Climates on European Conftitutions 
to his perufal. That writer has been very lavilh of his 
encomiums on St. Helena; but he acknowledges that he 
only lay at anchor oft' it for three days ; and its acute 
reader ridiculed the glowing defcriptions which were 
founded on fuch a tranfient and imperfect view of the 
place. 
“The name of the emprefs Jofephine happening to 
occur, Ihe became the fpontaneous fubjeft of very ani¬ 
mated eulogiums; when Hie was reprefented as poffeflirig 
a fweetnefs of difpofition, an elegance of manners, and a 
certain melody of voice, that irreliftibly charmed every 
one, without any exception as to fituation or capacity, 
who were admitted to her prefence. The fudden death 
of this excellent lady was generally lamented, and 'is 
attributed to a very extraordinary circumftance, and a 
very exalted perfonage. I will relate the events to you 
in the words, as far as memory ferves, in which the 
count de las Cafes conveyed it as an undeniable fa£l to 
me. Jofephine, it feems, had fo far won the admiration 
and high efteem of the emperor Alexander, that his im¬ 
perial majefty ufed to dedicate many of his leifure hours 
to the pleafure of her fafcinating converfation : his vifits 
were not only frequent, but continual, during his ftay at 
Paris. Her ftate of health was but indifferent; and, on fome 
particular occafion, herphyfician had prefcribed medicines 
of a nature that required the utmoft care and precaution. 
