“Gumprecht being questioned on this point replies that the accuser has probably, as well as himself, seen the circumstance mentioned in an infamous pamphlet which appeared seven or eight years, ago.  It was, I think, entitled ‘Le Secret du Cabinet des Tuileries,’ and was very likely at the time of its appearance denounced by the police.  In that libel it is stated, among a thousand other calumnies equally false and absurd, ’that when I left the First Consul I carried away a box full of important papers, that I was in consequence sent to the Temple, where your brother Joseph came to me and offered me my liberation, and a million of francs, if I would restore the papers, which I refused to do,’ etc.  Ogier, instead of looking for this libel in Hamburg, where I read it, has the impudence to give credit to the charge, the truth of which could have been ascertained immediately:  and he adds, ’This secret we are bound to believe.’  Your Majesty knows whether I was ever in the Temple, and whether Joseph ever made such an offer to me.”  I entreated that the Emperor would do me the favour to bring me to trial; for certainly I should have regarded that as a favour rather than to remain as I was, exposed to vague accusations; yet all my solicitations were in vain.  My letter to the Emperor remained unanswered; but though Bonaparte could not spare a few moments to reply to an old friend, I learned through Duroc the contempt he cherished for my accusers.  Duroc advised me not to be uneasy, and that in all probability the Emperor’s prejudices against me would be speedily overcome; and I must say that if they were not overcome it was neither the fault of Duroc nor Savary, who knew how to rightly estimate the miserable intrigues just alluded to.

Napoleon was at length determined to extend the limits of his Empire, or rather to avenge the injuries which Russia had committed against his Continental system.  Yet, before he departed for Germany, the resolute refusal of the Pope to submit to any arrangement urgently claimed his consideration.  Savona did not appear to him a sufficiently secure residence for such a prisoner.  He feared that when all his strength should be removed towards the Niemen the English might carry off the Pope, or that the Italians, excited by the clergy, whose dissatisfaction was general in Italy, would stir up those religious dissensions which are always fatal and difficult to quell.  With the view, therefore, of keeping the Pope under his control he removed him to Fontainebleau, and even at one time thought of bringing him to Paris.

The Emperor appointed M. Denon to reside with the Pope at Fontainebleau; and to afford his illustrious prisoner the society of such a man was certainly a delicate mark of attention on the part of Napoleon.  When speaking of his residence with Pius vii.  M. Denon related to me the following anecdote.  “The Pope,” said he, “was much attached to me.  He always addressed me by the appellation