During all this time the pair lead lived on terms of equality and friendship creditable to both.  The secretary neither asked for nor received any salary:  when he required money, he simply dipped into the cash-box of the First Consul.  As the whole power of the State gradually passed into the hands of the Consul, the labours of the secretary became heavier.  His successor broke down under a lighter load, and had to receive assistance; but, perhaps borne up by the absorbing interest of the work and the great influence given by his post, Bourrienne stuck to his place, and to all appearance might, except for himself, have come down to us as the companion of Napoleon during his whole life.  He had enemies, and one of them—­[Boulay de la Meurthe.]—­has not shrunk from describing their gratification at the disgrace of the trusted secretary.  Any one in favour, or indeed in office, under Napoleon was the sure mark of calumny for all aspirants to place; yet Bourrienne might have weathered any temporary storm raised by unfounded reports as successfully as Meneval, who followed him.  But Bourrienne’s hands were not clean in money matters, and that was an unpardonable sin in any one who desired to be in real intimacy with Napoleon.  He became involved in the affairs of the House of Coulon, which failed, as will be seen in the notes, at the time of his disgrace; and in October 1802 he was called on to hand over his office to Meneval, who retained it till invalided after the Russian campaign.

As has been said, Bourrienne would naturally be the mark for many accusations, but the conclusive proof of his misconduct—­at least for any one acquainted with Napoleon’s objection and dislike to changes in office, whether from his strong belief in the effects of training, or his equally strong dislike of new faces round him—­is that he was never again employed near his old comrade; indeed he really never saw the Emperor again at any private interview, except when granted the naval official reception in 1805, before leaving to take up his post at Hamburg, which he held till 1810.  We know that his re-employment was urged by Josephine and several of his former companions.  Savary himself says he tried his advocacy; but Napoleon was inexorable to those who, in his own phrase, had sacrificed to the golden calf.

Sent, as we have said, to Hamburg in 1805, as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Duke of Brunswick, the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and to the Hanse towns, Bourrienne knew how to make his post an important one.  He was at one of the great seats of the commerce which suffered so fearfully from the Continental system of the Emperor, and he was charged to watch over the German press.  How well he fulfilled this duty we learn from Metternich, who writes in 1805:  “I have sent an article to the newspaper editors in Berlin and to M. de Hofer at Hamburg.  I do not know whether it has been accepted, for M. Bourrienne still exercises an authority so severe over these journals that they are always submitted to him before they appear, that he may erase or alter the articles which do not please him.”