Louis XVIII.’s letter having reached Paris, the Royalist committee assembled, and were not a little embarrassed as to what should be done.  The meeting took place at Neuilly.  After a long deliberation it was suggested that the delivery of the letter should be entrusted to the Third Consul, with whom the Abby de Montesqiou had kept up acquaintance since the time of the Constituent Assembly.  This suggestion was adopted.  The recollections of the commencement of his career, under Chancellor Maupeou, had always caused M. Lebrun to be ranked in a distinct class by the Royalists.  For my part, I always looked upon him as a very honest man, a warm advocate of equality, and anxious that it should be protected even by despotism, which suited the views of the First Consul very well.  The Abbe de Montesquiou accordingly waited upon M. Lebrun, who undertook to deliver the letter.  Bonaparte received it with an air of indifference; but whether that indifference were real or affected, I am to this day unable to determine.  He said very little to me about the ill success of the negotiation with Louis XVIII.  On this subject he dreaded, above all, the interference of his brothers, who created around him a sort of commotion which he knew was not without its influence, and which on several occasions had excited his anger.

The letter of Louis XVIII. is certainly conceived in a tone of dignity which cannot be too highly admired; and it may be said that Bonaparte on this occasion rendered a real service to Louis by affording him the opportunity of presenting to the world one of the finest pages in the history of a dethroned King.  This letter, the contents of which were known in some circles of Paris, was the object of general approbation to those who preserved the recollection of the Bourbons, and above all, to the Royalist committee.  The members of that committee, proud of the noble spirit evinced by the unfortunate monarch, whose return they were generously labouring to effect, replied to him by a sort of manifesto, to which time has imparted interest, since subsequent events have fulfilled the predictions it contained.

CHAPTER XVI

1802.

The day after my disgrace—­Renewal of my duties—­Bonaparte’s affected regard for me—­Offer of an assistant—­M. de Meneval—­My second rupture with Bonaparte—­The Due de Rovigo’s account of it—­ Letter from M. de Barbe Marbois—­Real causes of my separation from the First Consul—­Postscript to the letter of M. de Barbe Marbois—­ The black cabinet—­Inspection of letters dining the Consulate—­ I retire to St. Cloud—­Communications from M. de Meneval—­A week’s conflict between friendship and pride—­My formal dismissal—­Petty revenge—­My request to visit England—­Monosyllabic answer—­Wrong suspicion—­Burial of my papers—­Communication from Duroc—­My letter to the First Consul—­The truth acknowledged.

I shall now return to the circumstances which followed