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of the Interior discussed these measures during the evening. others were referred to the Section of War. On the following day, the first complementary day of Year XIII. (Sept. 18, 1805), the Council of State was again assembled at St. Cloud under the presidency of the Emperor. The drafts drawn up by the Section of War and the Section of the Interior were read aloud. Those relating to the Conscription were carried without difficulty, but the others underwent some curious modifications. The one concerning the National Guard was restricted to allowing the Emperor to re-organise it in those departments only where he thought it desirable to have recourse to that means of defence; and, as the right of appointing officers was reserved to him, the institution was thus altered in its very essence. It could no longer be a source of danger, or an obstacle to authority; but, on the other hand, it was deprived of its special advantages and of its influence over the public. As for the Guard of Honour, it was agreed, after a discussion of some length, that there should be no decree on the subject; but that the Minister of the Interior should merely send out a circular requesting them to join the army, where they would be placed under the command of Colonel de Ségur. The secret purpose of this step was that émigrés and former nobles might be introduced into this new corps, and that these gentlemen, after a few months' service, should enter the line as officers, should receive promotion, and after a time the command of regiments; a favour which was displeasing to the whole army. This became evident at a later period.

With regard to the Government of the country during his absence, the Emperor decreed that Prince Joseph should be President of the Senate, with power to convene that body whenever he thought fit; that the Ministers should assemble at the Luxembourg, where he resided, once in every week, and that the Arch-chancellor should be present at those meetings, in which the Prince should refer questions which he did not think himself competent to decide either to the Council of State or to the Emperor himself; and that also all the telegraphic correspondence should be laid before him. On any extraordinary occasion he was to summon the High Constable (Prince Louis) and the Arch-chancellor,* to confer with them on measures to be taken and afterwards to issue orders in his own name. But Prince Joseph had no authority over the Public Exchequer. Neither had he any authority over the Police, and the bulletins on the state of Paris were delivered to the High Constable, as Military Chief, and sent by him to the Emperor.

All these arrangements being definitively settled, the Emperor

* Arch-treasurer Lebrun was then at Genoa.

proceeded in State to the Senate on Monday, the 1st Vendémiaire, Year XIV. (Sept. 23, 1805). M. de Talleyrand read a long report on the political relations between France and Austria since the peace of Lunéville, and drew a vivid picture of our grievances against that Power, passing lightly over those which our acquisitions in Italy might have afforded her against us. The Senatus-Consultum drawn up on the preceding day at the Council of State, was then presented by Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely and Ségur, and immediately carried. The Emperor concluded the sitting, which had lasted about three quarters of an hour, by a speech in which he declared that he had always ardently desired the continuance of peace; and then rising, he returned to the Tuileries with the same ceremonies with which he had come. The next morning, the 2d Vendémiaire (Sept. 24), he set out to join the army.

CHAPTER XXI.

Unpopularity of the war with the inhabitants of Paris-Embarrassment of the Bank of France and of the Public Exchequer-Declaration of War by Austria and Russia-The impression produced in FranceMarvellous successes of the French Army-Defeat of the combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar-Battle of Austerlitz-Hopes of peace entertained by the Parisians in consequence of the arrival of Austrian Plenipotentiaries at Napoleon's head-quarters-Displeasure of the Emperor-The Presburg Treaty of Peace The Emperor commands Prince Joseph to place himself at the head of a French army, and drive the King of Naples from his States, as he had broken his neutrality in the recent war-The Emperor, on his way back from Vienna, stays at Munich to arrange a marriage between Prince Eugene and Princess Augusta of Bavaria-The author receives commands to join Prince Joseph at Naples-He has an audience to take leave of the Emperor He receives instructions from M. de Talleyrand-He leaves Paris-He sees Lucien Bonaparte at Rome and arrives at Naples a week later than Prince Joseph-Situation of affairs-Formation of a Ministry-Two letters from the Emperor-Gigantic projects-Hard work of the Government at Naples-Silent opposition of Prince Joseph to the Emperor's views-General Regnier occupies Calabria-Prince Joseph resolves on visiting that province.

In spite of all that the Emperor had obliged the Senate to say, and of all that he had said himself, public opinion in Paris was not in favour of the war. The people could not witness unmoved the endangering of so many interests, which a series of reverses might entirely ruin; and if there was enthusiasm among the troops, among the people was evident discouragement, which the Emperor's enemies did not fail to keep up. He had scarcely quitted the capital when considerable alarm was evinced at the Bank concerning the exchange of the notes it had put in circulation. There was a deficiency of specie; the rate of exchange had to be lowered, and on the 3d Vendémiaire, the day after the Emperor's departure, the Bank could only give cash to the amount of three hundred thousand francs (£12,000), accepting only one note for a thousand francs (40) from each creditor who presented himself. The discontent was grave. The Bank, or at least the principal shareholders, were accused of trading in the specie and of having exported a large quantity. Others laid the scarcity of money on the shoulders of the Government and on the loans made to it by the

Bank. But the last accusation was quite unfounded: we of the Council of State were satisfied that such a proceeding had never even been contemplated, and that the evil must be attributed to the greed and the ill-judged speculations of the Governors of the Bank.

The difficulty of the public finances lasted nearly the whole time of the Emperor's absence. Several councils were held to devise means for lessening the attendant consequences, and various measures more or less adapted to diminish the evil were decreed.

During the whole time that this crisis lasted, the Public Exchequer was in a very strained position; and its difficulties were yet further increased by an extraordinary bounty granted by M. BarbéMarbois, the then Minister of the Treasury. In order to save the firm of Ouvrard and Vanderbergh, who supplied the Commissariat, from impending failure, he entrusted to them upon the whole of the bonds of the Receivers-General then in the Treasury a sum of eighty-five millions, which the contractors deposited in the Bank. On this deposit the Bank increased its issue of notes, and that operation was partly the cause of the impossibility of paying them at sight.

In granting so great a favour to speculators, M. Barbé-Marbois was doubtless influenced by no blameable motive; but he was wrong, in the first place, to consent to it without authorization, and in the second, not to have acquainted Prince Joseph with what he had done, for the Prince was thus left without any knowledge of the cause of an evil for which he was obliged to seek a remedy.* In the midst of the agitation caused by such grave irregularities

*Prince Joseph having no authority over the Treasury, M. BarbeMarbois was not, strictly speaking, obliged to render him any account; but the singular part of this transaction is, that it was for a considerable time concealed from the knowledge of the Emperor. The impression made on the Emperor by the Minister's behaviour is evident from the following letter to his brother. It is dated Schönbrunn, 4th Nivôse (Dec. 25).

MY BROTHER,-I send you an unsealed letter for the Minister of the Public Treasury. You will read it and forward it to him, after sealing it. I do not yet know whether this is folly or treason, but the Coalition had no more useful ally than my Minister. I suspend my judgment until on my arrival, which is near at hand, I can myself verify the facts and discover the truth. As a matter of fact I believe the man has betrayed me. Meanwhile do not alarm him. Tell him that there is but one way of dispersing the storm which is about to burst over him it is to restore the bonds which have been taken from the Treasury. Send for the General Cashier in order to learn the total value of the securities taken from his keeping. Consult the Minister of Finance; but say nothing to Cambacérès: I don't know how far the two Michels, who are his friends, may be mixed up in all this business," etc.

In January, 1806, after the Emperor's return to Paris, M. Barbe-Marbois was superseded at the Treasury by M. Mollieu.

just at the opening of a campaign, Austria and Russia published the declaration of war, in which the two Powers made known the purposes with which they were undertaking it. They set forth that they resorted to arms only in order to restrain the ambition of France, and to oppose her present or future invasion of Italy. They declared, at the same time, that they would lay down their arms on the following conditions only.

"France should withdraw within her natural boundaries, viz., the left bank of the Rhine, the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees and the Ocean.

"She should not maintain a single soldier beyond the Rhine, nor in Italy, Switzerland or Holland.

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Spain, Portugal, Piedmont, Switzerland, and Holland should be restored to governments quite independent of, and removed from, the influence of France.

"A State should be formed in Italy, for the Bourbon family, consisting of the Milanese and of the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza.

The foregoing declaration was adroitly drawn up, with the exception of the last Article. Propositions apparently moderate, and even glorious for France, were offered for her acceptance: they might make an impression in favour of the new Coalition, and obtain for it the approval of the wiser part of the public, who were far from perceiving the necessity of making war to further gigantic projects of aggrandisement, which, even if successful, would endanger the existence of the nation in the future. But the provision in favour of the Bourbons was alarming to this same portion of the public, and destroyed the effect of all the other Articles. And, indeed, it too clearly revealed an intention of encouraging the hopes of the Bourbons: France would lose all sense of safety and tranquillity, if a country so near her borders were bestowed on a family whose desires it would never satisfy, and who would only make use of it to excite civil discord among the French. Therefore the declaration of war, which in this respect was a blunder, justified Napoleon, in the eyes of France, more fully than all the speeches of his orators and all his articles in the Moniteur' could ever have done.

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On the other hand, victory came to perfect his justification, and that so brilliantly, that the enthusiasm evoked by his marvellous and rapid campaign soon overpowered every other sentiment, except that of profound admiration.

This wonderful series of victories was uninterrupted, save by the unexpected news received by Prince Joseph, on the 13th Brumaire, Year XIV. (Nov. 4, 1805), of the disasters sustained by our fleet, while the exploits of our armies were amazing all Europe.

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