in Paris. As Austria was exhausted all the contributions
imposed on her could not be paid in cash, and they gave the Emperor bills
in payment. I received one for about 7,000,000 on Hamburg on account of
the stipulations of the treaty of Presburg.
The affairs of the Bourbon Princes became more and more unfavourable, and
their finances, as well as their chances of success, were so much
diminished that about this period it was notified to the emigrants in
Brunswick that the pretender (Louis XVIII.) had no longer the means of
continuing their pensions. This produced great consternation amongst
those emigrants, many of whom had no other means of existence; and
notwithstanding their devotion to the cause of royalty they found a
pension very useful in strengthening their zeal.
--[When Louis XVIII. returned to France, and Fouche was his Minister
of Police, the King asked Fouche whether during his (the King's)
exile, had not set spies over him, and who they were. Fouche
hesitated to reply, but the King insisting he said: "If your Majesty
presses for an answer, it was the Due de Blacas to whom this matter
was confided."--"And how much did you pay him?" said the King.
"Deux cents mille livres de rents, Sire."--"Ah, so!" said the King,
"then he has played fair; we went halves."--Henry Greville's Diary,
p. 430.]--
Amongst those emigrants was one whose name will occupy a certain place in
history; I mean Dumouriez, of whom I have already spoken, and who had for
some time employed himself in distributing pamphlets. He was then at
Stralsund; and it was believed that the King of Sweden would give him a
command. The vagrant life of this general, who ran everywhere hegging
employment from the enemies of his country without being able to obtain
it, subjected him to general ridicule; in fact, he was everywhere
despised.
To determine the difficulties which had arisen with regard to Holland,
which Dumouriez dreamed of conquering with an imaginary army, and being
discontented besides with the Dutch for not rigorously excluding English
vessels from their ports, the Emperor constituted the Batavian territory
a kingdom under his brother Louis. When I notified to the States of the
circle of Lower Saxony the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of
Holland, and the nomination of Cardinal Fesch as coadjutor and successor
of the Arch-chancellor of the Germanic Empire, along with their official
communications, th
|