he
entrusted him with a friendly letter to his brother of Russia, but
Alexander was in such haste to reply to the flattering missive of his
brother of France that M. Czernischeff was hurried back to Paris, having
scarcely been suffered to enter the gates of St. Petersburg. I believe I
am correct in the idea that Napoleon was not really displeased at the
intrigues of M. Czernischeff, from the supposition that they afforded an
indication of the hostile intentions of Russia towards France; for,
whatever he might say on this subject to his confidants, what reliance
can we place on the man who formed the camp of Boulogne without the most
distant intention of attempting a descent upon England, and who had
deceived the whole world respecting that important affair without taking
any one into his own confidence?

During the period of my stay in Paris the war with Spain and Portugal
occupied much of the public attention; and it proved in the end an
enterprise upon which the intuition of Josephine had not deceived her.
In general she intermeddled little with political affairs; in the first
place, because her doing so would have given offence to Napoleon; and
next, because her natural frivolity led her to give a preference to
lighter pursuits. But I may safely affirm that she was endowed with an
instinct so perfect as seldom to be deceived respecting the good or evil
tendency of any measure which Napoleon engaged in; and I remember she
told me that when informed of the intention of the Emperor to bestow the
throne of Spain on Joseph, she was seized with a feeling of indescribable
alarm. It would be difficult to define that instinctive feeling which
leads us to foresee the future; but it is a fact that Josephine was
endowed with this faculty in a more perfect decree than any other person
I have ever known, and to her it was a fatal gift, for she suffered at
the same time under the weight of present and of future misfortunes.

I often visited her at Malmaison, as Duroc assured me that the Emperor
had no objection to my doing so; yet he must have been fully aware that
when Josephine and I were in confidential conversation he would not
always be mentioned in terms of unqualified eulogy; and in truth, his
first friend and his first wife might well be excused for sometimes
commingling their complaints.

Though more than a twelvemonth had elapsed since the divorce grief still
preyed on the heart of Josephine. "You cannot conceive, my f