In spite of his parade of disinterestedness General Dupas yielded so far as to accept the twenty Louis a day for the expense of his table which M. Notting had offered him on the part of the Senate of Lubeck; but it was not without murmurings, complaints, and menaces that he made this generous concession; and he exclaimed more than once, “These fellows have portioned out my allowance for me.”  Lubeck was not released from the presence of General Dupes until the month of March 1809, when he was summoned to command a division in the Emperor’s new campaign against Austria.  Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless the fact, that, oppressive as had been his presence at Lubeck, the Hanse Towns soon had reason to regret him.

CHAPTER XV.

1808.

Promulgation of the Code of Commerce—­Conquests by Status-consulte—­ Three events in one day—­Recollections—­Application of a line of Voltaire—­Creation of the Imperial nobility—­Restoration of the university—­Aggrandisement of the kingdom of Italy at the expense of Rome—­Cardinal Caprara’a departure from Paris—­The interview at Erfurt.

The year 1808 was fertile in remarkable events.  Occupied as I was with my own duties, I yet employed my leisure hours in observing the course of those great acts by which Bonaparte seemed determined to mark every day of his life.  At the commencement of 1808 I received one of the first copies of the Code of Commerce, promulgated on the 1st of January by the Emperor’s order.  This code appeared to me an act of mockery; at least it was extraordinary to publish a code respecting a subject which it was the effect of all the Imperial decrees to destroy.  What trade could possibly exist under the Continental system, and the ruinous severity of the customs?  The line was already extended widely enough when, by a ‘Senatus-consulte’, it was still further widened.  The Emperor, to whom all the Continent submitted, had recourse to no other formality for the purpose of annexing to the Empire the towns of Kehl, Cassel near Mayence, Wesel, and Flushing, with the territories depending on them.

—­[A resolution of the senate, or a “Senatus-consulte” was the means invented by Napoleon for altering the imperial Constitutions, and even the extent of the Empire.  By one of these, dated 21st January 1808, the towns of Kehl, Cassel, and Wesel, with Flushing, all already seized, were definitely united to France.  The loss of Wesel, which helonged to Murat’s Grand Duchy of Berg, was a very sore point with Murat.]—­

These conquests, gained by decrees and senatorial decisions, had at least the advantage of being effected without bloodshed.  All these things were carefully communicated to me by the Ministers with whom I corresponded, for my situation at Hamburg had acquired such importance that it was necessary I should know everything.