and doing away with the formalities.  “The Emperor signed at once, thanking the Minister of Finance.”  The reader, remembering the position of the French Princes then, should compare this action of Napoleon with the failure of the Bourbons in 1814 to pay the sums promised to Napoleon, notwithstanding the strong remonstrances made at Vienna to Talleyrand by Alexander and Lord Castlereagh.  See Talleyrand’s Correspondence with Louis XVIII., tome ii. pp. 27, 28; or French edition, pp. 285, 288.]—­

The reader will recollect the curious question which the First Consul put to me on the subject of the Bourbons when we were walking in the park of Malmaison.  To the reply which I made to him on that occasion I attribute the secrecy he observed towards me respecting the letter just alluded to.  I am indeed inclined to regard that letter as the result of one of his private conferences with Lucien; but I know nothing positive on the subject, and merely mention this as a conjecture.  However, I had an opportunity of ascertaining the curious circumstances which took place at Mittau, when Bonaparte’s letter was delivered to Louis XVIII.

That Prince was already much irritated against Bonaparte by his delay in answering his first letter, and also by the tenor of his tardy reply; but on reading the First Consul’s second letter the dethroned King immediately sat down and traced a few lines forcibly expressing his indignation at such a proposition.  The note, hastily written by Louis XVIII. in the first impulse of irritation, bore little resemblance to the dignified and elegant letter which Bonaparte received, and which I shall presently lay before the reader.  This latter epistle closed very happily with the beautiful device of Francis I., “All is lost but honour.”  But the first letter was stamped with a more chivalrous tone of indignation.  The indignant sovereign wrote it with his hand supported on the hilt of his sword; but the Abbe Andre, in whom Louis XVIII. reposed great confidence, saw the note, and succeeded, not without some difficulty, in soothing the anger of the King, and prevailing on him to write the following letter: 

I do not confound M. Bonaparte with those who have preceded him.  I esteem his courage and his military talents.  I am grateful for some acts of his government; for the benefits which are conferred on my people will always be prized by me.

   But he errs in supposing that he can induce me to renounce my
   rights; so far from that, he would confirm them, if they could
   possibly be doubtful, by the step he has now taken.

I am ignorant of the designs of Heaven respecting me and my subjects; but I know the obligations which God has imposed upon me.  As a Christian, I will fulfil my duties to my last breath—­as the son of St. Louis, I would, like him, respect myself even in chains—­ as the successor of Francis I., I say with him—­’Tout est perdu fors l’honneur’.

   Mittau, 1802.  Louis.