France the Dutch are convinced that they have lost what they would not have lost under a Schimmelpenninek or a Prince of Orange.  Prove yourself a Frenchman, and the brother of the Emperor, and be assured that thereby you will serve the interests of Holland.  But you seem to be incorrigible, for you would drive away the few Frenchmen who remain with you.  You must be dealt with, not by affectionate advice, but by threats and compulsion.  What mean the prayers and mysterious fasts you have ordered?  Louis, you will not reign long.  Your actions disclose better than your confidential letters the sentiments of your mind.  Return to the right course.  Be a Frenchman in heart, or your people will banish you, and you will leave Holland an object of ridicule.

—­[It was, on the contrary, became Louis made himself a Dutchman that his people did not banish him, and that he carried away with him the regret of all that portion of his subjects who could appreciate his excellent qualities and possessed good sense enough to perceive that he was not to blame for the evils that weighed upon Holland.—­Bourrienne.  The conduct of Bonaparte to Murat was almost a counterpart to this.  When Murat attempted to consult the interests of Naples he was called a traitor to France.—­Editor of 1836 edition.]—­

   States must be governed by reason and policy, and not by the
   weakness produced by acrid and vitiated humours.

(Signed) Napoleon.

A few days after this letter was despatched to Louis, Napoleon heard of a paltry affray which had taken place at Amsterdam, and to which Comte de la Rochefoucauld gave a temporary diplomatic importance, being aware that he could not better please his master than by affording him an excuse for being angry.  It appeared that the honour of the Count’s coachman had been put in jeopardy by the insult of a citizen of Amsterdam, and a quarrel had ensued, which, but for the interference of the guard of the palace, might have terminated seriously since it assumed the character of a party affair between the French and the Dutch.  M. de la Rochefoucauld immediately despatched to the Emperor, who was then at Lille, a full report of his coachman’s quarrel, in which he expressed himself with as much earnestness as the illustrious author of the “Maxims” evinced when he waged war against kings.  The consequence was that Napoleon instantly fulminated the following letter against his brother Louis: 

Brother—­At the very moment when you were making the fairest protestations I learn that the servants of my Ambassador have been ill-treated at Amsterdam.  I insist that those who were guilty of this outrage be delivered up to me, in order that their punishment may serve as an example to others.  The Sieur Serrurier has informed me how you conducted yourself at the diplomatic audiences.  I have, consequently, determined that the Dutch Ambassador shall not remain in Paris;