to repair to Vienna, he
resolved, to send them thither. He did not deceive himself with the
idea, that they would accept their mission for any other purpose than
that of more easily serving the royal cause; but he paid little regard
to their intrigues with the King, provided they delivered and brought
back with exactness the despatches, that should be entrusted to
them[95].

[Footnote 95: It was a laughable singularity, that,
of all the double-faced men employed by the
Emperor, there was no one, in whom he had more
confidence, than he had in M. de Mont**. He had
formerly ill-treated, persecuted, and banished him:
he knew, that he detested him, and was the most
intimate, the most devoted friend of M. de
Talleyrand: but he knew also the bent of M. de
Mont**'s mind; and he thought, that he would feel
an infinite pleasure, in executing his mission
well, and _humming_ [_rouer_] M. de Talleyrand, who
flattered himself, that he had never been hummed by
any person. I know not whether M. de Mont** found
it pleasant, or not, to take in M. de Talleyrand;
what I know is, that he justified the expectations
of Napoleon, and brought back to him intact the
letters, that were delivered to him by M. de
Mont**.]

About the King, however, and what passed at Ghent, he took little
concern: his anxious eyes were turned to Vienna; and convinced of the
influence, that M. de Talleyrand might exert there, he particularly
directed M. ****, to offer him his favour, and money also, if he would
abandon the Bourbons, and employ his talents and experience for the
benefit of the imperial cause.

The Emperor, who did not cease to hope, that his exertions, time, and
reflection, might effect some changes in the resolutions of the
allies, heard with extreme displeasure, that the King of Naples had
commenced hostilities.

This prince had long been dissatisfied with the complaisance, with
which the allied sovereigns listened to the protests of France, Savoy,
and Spain: and, though his crown had been guarantied to him by a
solemn compact with Austria, and by the formal declarations of Russia
and England, he foresaw, th