Rapp then announced me to the Emperor, and I was immediately admitted to his presence.  After pinching my ear and asking his usual questions, such as, “What does the world say?  How are your children?  What are you about? etc.,” he said to me, “By the by, have you attended the proceedings against Moreau?”—­“Yes, Sire, I have not been absent during one of the sittings.”—­“Well, Bourrienne, are you of the opinion that Moreau is innocent?”—­“Yes, Sire; at least I am certain that nothing has come out in the course of the trial tending to criminate him; I am even surprised how he came to be implicated in this conspiracy, since nothing has appeared against him which has the most remote connexion with the affair.”—­“I know your opinion on this subject; Duroc related to me the conversation you held with him at the Tuileries; experience has shown that you were correct; but how could I act otherwise?  You know that Bouvet de Lozier hanged himself in prison, and was only saved by accident.  Real hurried to the Temple in order to interrogate him, and in his first confessions he criminated Moreau, affirming that he had held repeated conferences with Pichegru.  Real immediately reported to me this fact, and proposed that Moreau should be arrested, since the rumours against him seemed to be well founded; he had previously made the same proposition.  I at first refused my sanction to this measure; but after the charge made against him by Bouvet de Lozier, how could I act otherwise than I did?  Could I suffer such open conspiracies against the Government?  Could I doubt the truth of Bouvet de Lozier’s declaration, under the circumstances in which it was made?  Could I foresee that he would deny his first declaration when brought before the Court?  There was a chain of circumstances which human sagacity could not penetrate, and I consented to the arrest of Moreau when it was proved that he was in league with Pichegru.  Has not England sent assassins?”—­“Sire,” said I, “permit me to call to your recollection the conversation you had in my presence with Mr. Fox, after which you said to me, ’Bourrienne, I am very happy at having heard from the mouth of a man of honour that the British Government is incapable of seeking my life; I always wish to esteem my enemies.”—­“Bah! you are a fool!  Parbleu!  I did not say that the English Minister sent over an assassin, and that he said to him, ’Here is gold and a poniard; go and kill the First Consul.’  No, I did not believe that; but it cannot be denied that all those foreign conspirators against my Government were serving England, and receiving pay from that power.  Have I agents in London to disturb the Government of Great Britain?  I have waged with it honourable warfare; I have not attempted to awaken a remembrance of the Stuarts amongst their old partisans.  Is not Wright, who landed Georges and his accomplices at Dieppe, a captain in the British navy?  But rest assured that, with the exception of a few babblers,