sent to desire his presence at Munich with all possible speed.  He, too, remains unchanged; he is still our old comrade.  At first he was not much pleased with the idea of a political marriage; but when he saw his bride he was quite enchanted; and no wonder, for I assure you she is a very charming woman.”

CHAPTER IV.

1805.

Depreciation of the Bank paper—­Ouvrard—­His great discretion—­ Bonaparte’s opinion of the rich—­Ouvrard’s imprisonment—­His partnership with the King of Spain—­His connection with Waalenberghe and Desprez—­Bonaparte’s return to Paris after the campaign of Vienna—­Hasty dismissal of M. Barbe Marbois.

At the moment when the Emperor had reason to hope that the news of his extraordinary success would animate public spirit he was informed that considerable disquietude prevailed, and that the Bank of France was assailed by demands for the payment of its paper, which had fallen, more than 5 per cent.  I was not ignorant of the cause of this decline.  I had been made acquainted, through the commercial correspondence between Hamburg and Paris, with a great financial operation, planned by M. Ouvrard, in consequence of which he was to obtain piastres from Spanish America at a price much below the real value; and I had learned that he was obliged to support this enterprise by the funds which he and his partners previously employed in victualling the forces.  A fresh investment of capital was therefore necessary for this service, which, when on a large scale, requires extensive advances, and the tardy payment of the Treasury at that period was well known.

I was well acquainted with M. Ouvrard, and in what I am about to say I do not think there will be found anything offensive or disagreeable to him.  I observed the greater number of the facts to which I shall refer in their origin, and the rest I learned from M. Ouvrard himself, who, when he visited Hamburg in 1808, communicated to me a variety of details respecting his immense transaction with the King of Spain.  Among other things I recollect he told me that hefore the 18th Brumaire he was possessed of 60,000,000, without owing a franc to any person.

This celebrated financier has been the object of great public attention.  The prodigious variations of fortune which he has experienced, the activity of his life, the immense commercial operations in which he has been engaged; the extent and the boldness of his enterprises, render it necessary, in forming a judgment of M. Ouvrard, to examine his conduct with due care and deliberation.  The son of a stationer, who was able merely through his own resources to play so remarkable a part, could be no ordinary man.  It may be said of M. Ouvrard what Beaumarchais said of himself, that his life was really a combat.  I have known him long, and I saw much of him in his relations with Josephine.  He always appeared to