Here the Emperor remained silent for a moment, and I was preparing to retire, but he detained me, saying in the kindest manner, “What, are you going already, Bourrienne?  Are you in a hurry?  Let, us chat a little longer.  God knows, when we may see each other again!” Then after two or three moments’ silence he said, “The more I reflect on our situation, on our former intimacy, and our subsequent separation, the more I see the necessity of your going to Hamburg.  Go, then, my dear fellow, I advise you.  Trust me.  When do you think of setting out?” “In May.”—­“In May? . . .  Ah, I shall be in Milan then, for I wish to stop at Turin.  I like the Piedmontese; they are the best soldiers in Italy.”—­“Sire, the King of Italy will be the junior of the Emperor of France!”

—­[I alluded to a conversation which I had with Napoleon when we first went to the Tuileries.  He spoke to me about his projects of royalty, and I stated the difficulties which I thought he would experience in getting himself acknowledged by the old reigning families of Europe.  “If it comes to that,” he replied.  “I will dethrone them all, and then I shall be the oldest sovereign among them.”—­Bourrienne.]—­

—­“Ah! so you recollect what I said one day at the Tuileries; but, my dear fellow, I have yet a devilish long way to go before I gain my point.”—­“At the rate, Sire, at which you are going you will not be long in reaching it.”—­“Longer than you imagine.  I see all the obstacles in my way; but they do not alarm me.  England is everywhere, and the struggle is between her and me.  I see how it will be.  The whole of Europe will be our instruments; sometimes serving one, sometimes the other, but at bottom the dispute is wholly between England and France.

“A propos,” said the Emperor, changing the subject, for all who knew him are aware that this ‘a propos’ was his favourite, and, indeed, his only mode of transition; a propos, Bourrienne, you surely must have heard of the departure of Jaubert,

—­[Amedee Jaubart had been with Napoleon in Egypt, and was appointed to the cabinet of the Consul as secretary interpreter of Oriental languages.  He was sent on several missions to the East, and brought back, is 1818, goats from Thibet, naturalising in France the manufacture of cashmeres.  He became a peer of France under the Monarchy of July.]—­

and his mission.  What is said on the subject?”—­“Sire, I have only heard it slightly alluded to.  His father, however, to whom he said nothing respecting the object of his journey, knowing I was intimate with Jaubert, came to me to ascertain whether I could allay his anxiety respecting a journey of the duration of which he could form no idea.  The precipitate departure of his son had filled him with apprehension I told him the truth, viz., that Jaubert had said no more to me on the subject than to him.”—­“Then you do not know where he is gone?”—­“I beg your pardon, Sire; I know very well.”—­“How,