to France,
and to take possession of a part of your territory. In proving
yourself a bad Frenchman you are less to the Dutch than a Prince of
Orange, to whose family they owe their rank as a nation, and a long
succession of prosperity and glory. By your banishment from 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 Rochefouca