—­[On the eve of the battle of Hohenlinden Moreau was at supper with his aides de camp and several general officers, when a despatch was delivered to him.  After he had read it be said to his guests, though he was far from being in the habit of boasting, “I am here made acquainted with Baron Kray’s movements.  They are all I could wish.  To-morrow we will take from him 10,000 prisoners.”  Moreau took 40,000, besides a great many flags.—­Bourrienne.]—­

On the 6th of December the First Consul received intelligence of the battle of Hohenlinden.  It was on a Saturday, and he had just returned from the theatre when I delivered the despatches to him.  He literally danced for joy.  I must say that he did not expect so important a result from the movements of the army of the Rhine.  This victory gave a new face to his negotiations for peace, and determined the opening of the Congress of Luneville, which took place on the 1st of January following.

On receiving information of the battle of Hohenlinden, Madame Moreau came to the Tuileries to call on the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte.  She did not see them, and repeated her calls several times with no better success.  The last time she came she was accompanied by her mother, Madame Hulot.  She waited for a considerable time in vain, and when she was going away her mother, who could no longer restrain her feelings, said aloud, before me and several persons of the household, that “it ill became the wife of the conqueror of Hohenlinden to dance attendance in this way.”  This remark reached the ears of those to whom it was directed.  Madame Moreau shortly after rejoined her husband in Germany; and some time after her departure Madame Hulot came to Malmaison to solicit promotion for her eldest son, who was in the navy.  Josephine received Madame Hulot very kindly, and requested her to stay to dinner.  She accepted the invitation.  The First Consul, who did not see her until the hour of dinner, treated her very coolly:  he said little to her, and retired as soon as dinner was over.  His rudeness was so marked and offensive that Josephine, who was always kind and amiable, thought it necessary to apologise, by observing that his mind was disturbed by the non-arrival of a courier whom he expected.

Bonaparte entertained no dislike of Moreau, because he did not fear him; and after the battle of Hohenlinden he spoke of him in the highest terms, and frankly acknowledged the services he had rendered on that important occasion; but he could not endure his wife’s family, who, he said, were a set of intriguers.

—­[Napoleon had good reason for his opinion.  “Moreau had a mother- in-law and a wife lively and given to intrigue.  Bonaparte could not bear intriguing women.  Besides, on one occasion Madame Moreau’s mother, when at Malmaison, had indulged in sharp remarks on a suspected scandalous intimacy between Bonaparte and his young sister Caroline, then just married.