ing of Prussia the cordon of the Black Eagle because the
order had been given to the First Consul. I understood that Frederick
William was very much offended at this proceeding, which was as
indecorous and absurd as the return of the Golden Fleece by Louis XVII.
to the King of Spain was dignified and proper. Gustavus Adolphus was
brave, enterprising, and chivalrous, but inconsiderate and irascible. He
called Bonaparte Monsieur Napoleon. His follies and reverses in Hanover
were without doubt the cause of his abdication. On the 31st of October
1805 he published a declaration of war against France in language highly
insulting to the Emperor.

Fouche overwhelmed me with letters. If I had attended to all his
instructions I should have left nobody unmolested. He asked me for
information respecting a man named Lazoret, of the department of Gard,
a girl, named Rosine Zimbenni, having informed the police that he had
been killed in a duel at Hamburg. I replied that I knew but of four
Frenchmen who had been killed in that way; one, named Clement, was killed
by Tarasson; a second, named Duparc, killed by Lezardi; a third, named
Sadremont, killed by Revel; and a fourth, whose name I did not know,
killed by Lafond. This latter had just arrived at Hamburg when he was
killed, but he was not the man sought for.

Lafond was a native of Brabant, and had served in the British army. He
insulted the Frenchman because he wore the national cockade--A duel was
the consequence, and the offended party fell. M. Reinhart, my
predecessor wished to punish Lafond, but the Austrian Minister having
claimed him as the subject of his sovereign, he was not molested. Lafond
took refuge in Antwerp, where he became a player.

During the first months which succeeded my arrival in Hamburg I received
orders for the arrest of many persons, almost all of whom were designated
as dangerous and ill disposed men. When I was convinced that the
accusation was groundless I postponed the arrest. The matter was then
forgotten, and nobody complained.

A title, or a rank in foreign service, was a safeguard against the Paris
inquisition. Of this the following is an instance. Count Gimel, of whom
I shall hereafter have occasion to speak more at length, set out about
this time for Carlsbad. Count Grote the Prussian Minister, frequently
spoke to me of him. On my expressing apprehension that M. de Gimel might
be arrested, as there was a strong prejudice against him, M. Grote