a compound of vanity and mediocrity, the fit man to be entrusted with the command of an army in a distant country, and under circumstances in which great political and military talents were requisite?  For my own part, knowing Junot’s incapacity, I must acknowledge that his appointment astonished me.  I remember one day, when I was speaking on the subject to Bernadotte, he showed me a letter he had received from Paris, in which it was said that the Emperor had sent Junot to Portugal only for the sake of depriving him of the government of Paris.  Junot annoyed Napoleon by his bad conduct, his folly, and his incredible extravagance.  He was alike devoid of dignity—­either in feeling or conduct.  Thus Portugal was twice the place of exile selected by Consular and Imperial caprice:  first, when the First Consul wished to get rid of the familiarity of Lannes; and next, when the Emperor grew weary of the misconduct of a favourite.

The invasion of Portugal presented no difficulty.  It was an armed promenade and not a war; but how many events were connected with the occupation of that country!  The Prince Regent of Portugal, unwilling to act dishonourably to England, to which he was allied by treaties; and unable to oppose the whole power of Napoleon, embarked for Brazil, declaring that all defence was useless.  At the same time he recommended his subjects to receive the French troops in a friendly manner, and said that he consigned to Providence the consequences of an invasion which was without a motive.  He was answered in the Emperor’s name that, Portugal being the ally of England, we were only carrying on hostilities against, the latter country by invading his dominions.

It was in the month of November that the code of French jurisprudence, upon which the most learned legislators had indefatigably laboured, was established as the law of the State, under the title of the Code Napoleon.  Doubtless this legislative monument will redound to Napoleon’s honour in history; but was it to be supposed that the same laws would be equally applicable throughout so vast an extent as that comprised within the French Empire?  Impossible as this was, as soon as the Code Napoleon way promulgated I received orders to establish it in the Hanse Towns.

—­[This great code of Civil Law was drawn up under Napoleon’s orders and personal superintendence.  Much had been prepared under the Convention, and the chief merits of it were due to the labours of such men as Tronchet; Partatis, Bigot de Preameneu, Maleville, Cambaceres, etc.  But it was debated under and by Napoleon, who took a lively interest in it.  It was first called the “Code Civil,” but is 1807 was named “Code Napoleon,” or eventually “Les Cinq Codes de Napoleon.”  When completed in 1810 it included five Codes—­the Code Civil, decreed March 1803; Code de Procedure Civile, decreed April 1806; Code de Commerce, decreed September 1807; Code d’Instruction Criminelle, decreed November 1808; and the Code Penal, decreed