fearing lest Alexander might imitate the second act of his father as well as the first, he plainly saw that he must give up all intention of residing on the Continent; and it was then that I read in the ‘Abeille du Nord’ the article before alluded to.  There is, however, one fact upon which I must insist, because I know it to be true, viz. that it was of his own free will that Louis XVIII. quitted Mittau; and if he was afraid that Alexander would imitate his father’s conduct that fear was without foundation.  The truth is, that Alexander was ignorant even of the King’s intention to go away until he heard from Baron von Driesen, Governor of Mittau, that he had actually departed.  Having now stated the truth on this point I have to correct another error, if indeed it be only an error, into which some writers have fallen.  It has been falsely alleged that the King left Mittau for the purpose of fomenting fresh troubles in France.  The friends of Louis XVIII., who advised him to leave Mittau, had great hopes from the last war.  They cherished still greater hopes from the new wars which Bonaparte’s ambition could not fail to excite, but they were not so ill-informed respecting the internal condition of France as to expect that disturbances would arise there, or even to believe in the possibility of fomenting them.  The pear was not yet ripe for Louis XVIII.

On the 29th of November the contents of a letter which had arrived from London by way of Sweden were communicated to me.  This letter was dated the 3d of November, and contained some particulars respecting the Comte de Lille’s arrival in England.  That Prince had arrived at Yarmouth on the 31st of October 1807, and it was stated that the King was obliged to wait some time in the port until certain difficulties respecting his landing and the continuance of his journey should be removed.  It moreover appeared from this letter that the King of England thought proper to refuse the Comte de Lille permission to go to London or its neighbourhood.  The palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh was assigned as his place of residence; and Mr. Ross, secretary to Mr. Canning, conveyed the determination of the King of England to Louis XVIII., at Yarmouth.

The precaution of the English Ministry in not permitting the refugee King to go near London appeared to me remarkable, considering the relative position of the Governments of France and England, and I regarded it as a corroboration of what the Prince Wittgenstein had told me respecting Mr. Canning’s inclination for an amicable arrangement.  But the moment was approaching when the affairs of Spain were to raise an invincible obstacle to peace, to complicate more than ever the interests of the powers of Europe, and open to Napoleon that vast career of ambition which proved his ruin.  He did not allow the hopes of the emigrants to remain chimerical, and the year 1814 witnessed the realization of the prophetic remark made by M. Lemereier, in a conversation with Bonaparte a few days before the foundation of the Empire:  “If you get into the bed of the Bourbons, General, you will not lie in it ten year.”  Napoleon occupied it for nine years and nine months.