the sole foundation of this intrigue.  I remember that one day, about the end of January 1804, I called on Fouche, who informed me that he had been at St. Cloud, where he had had a long conversation with the First Consul on the situation of affairs.  Bonaparte told him that he was satisfied with the existing police, and hinted that it was only to make himself of consequence that he had given a false colouring to the picture.  Fouche asked him what he would say if he told him that Georges and Pichegru had been for some time in Paris carrying on the conspiracy of which he had received information.  The First Consul, apparently delighted at what he conceived to be Fouche’s mistake, said, with an air of contempt, “You are well informed, truly!  Regnier has just received a letter from London stating that Pichegru dined three days ago at Kingston with one of the King of England’s ministers.”

As Fouche, however, persisted in his assertion, the First Consul sent to Paris for the Grand Judge, Regnier, who showed Fouche the letter he had received.  The First Consul triumphed at first to see Fouche at fault; but the latter so clearly proved that Georges and Pichegru were actually in Paris that Regnier began to fear he had been misled by his agents, whom his rival paid better than he did.  The First Consul, convinced that his old minister knew more than his new one, dismissed Regnier, and remained a long time in consultation with Fouche, who on that occasion said nothing about his reinstatement for fear of exciting suspicion.  He only requested that the management of the business might be entrusted to Real, with orders to obey whatever instructions he might receive from him.  I will return hereafter to the arrest of Moreau and the other persons accused, and will now subjoin the account of a long interview which I had with Bonaparte in the midst of these important events.

On the 8th of March 1804, some time after the arrest but before the trial of General Moreau, I had an audience of the First Consul, which was unsought on my part.  Bonaparte, after putting several unimportant questions to me as to what I was doing, what I expected he should do for me, and assuring me that he would bear me in mind, gave a sudden turn to the conversation, and said, “By the by, the report of my connection with Hortense is still kept up:  the most abominable rumours have been spread as to her first child.  I thought at the time that these reports had only been admitted by the public in consequence of the great desire that I should not be childless.  Since you and I separated have you heard them repeated?”—­“Yes, General, oftentimes; and I confess I could not have believed that this calumny would have existed so long.”—­“It is truly frightful to think of!  You know the truth—­you have seen all—­heard all—­nothing could have passed without your knowledge; you were in her full confidence during the time of her attachment to Duroc.  I therefore expect, if you should ever write anything about me,