freedom—­a fault I was never solicitous to correct—­he added:  “I regret your absence much.  You were very useful to me.  You are neither too noble nor too plebeian, neither too aristocratic nor too Jacobinical.  You are discreet and laborious.  You understand me better than any one else; and, between ourselves be it said, we ought to consider this a sort of Court.  Look at Duroc, Bessieres, Maret.  However, I am very much inclined to take you back; but by so doing I should confirm the report that I cannot do without you.”

Madame Bonaparte informed me that she had heard persons to whom Bonaparte expressed a desire to recall me observe, “What would you do?  People will say you cannot do without him.  You have got rid of him now; therefore think no more about him:  and as for the English newspapers, he gave them more importance than they really deserved:  you will no longer be troubled with them.”  This will bring to mind a scene—­which occurred at Malmaison on the receipt of some intelligence in the ‘London Gazette’.

I am convinced that if Bonaparte had been left to himself he would have recalled me, and this conviction is warranted by the interval which elapsed between his determination to part with me and the formal announcement of my dismissal.  Our rupture took place on the 20th of October, and on the 8th of November following the First Consul sent me the following letter: 

     Citizen Bourrienne, minister of state—­I am satisfied with the
     services which you have rendered me during the time yon have been
     with me; but henceforth they are no longer necessary.  I wish you to
     relinquish, from this time, the functions and title of my private
     secretary.  I shall seize an early opportunity of providing for you
     in a way suited to your activity and talents, and conducive to the
     public service. 
          
                    (Signed)Bonaparte.

If any proof of the First Consul’s malignity were wanting it would be furnished by the following fact:—­A few days after the receipt of the letter which announced my dismissal I received a note from Duroc; but, to afford an idea of the petty revenge of him who caused it to be written, it will be necessary first to relate a few preceding circumstances.

When, with the view of preserving a little freedom, I declined the offer of apartments which Madame Bonaparte had prepared at Malmaison for myself and my family, I purchased a small house at Ruel:  the First Consul had given orders for the furnishing of this house, as well as one which I possessed in Paris.  From the manner in which the orders were given I had not the slightest doubt but that Bonaparte intended to make me a present of the furniture.  However, when I left his service he applied to have it returned.  As at first I paid no attention to his demand, as far as it concerned the furniture at Ruel, he directed Duroc to write the following letter to me: