So much we could learn from the "Moniteur," which reached us each day;
and while assuming a tone of open reprobation regarding the _Chouans_,
spoke in terms the most cautious and reserved respecting the two
generals, as if probing the public mind how far their implication in
treason might be credited, and with what faith the proofs of their
participation might be received.

At last the train seemed laid; the explosion was all prepared, and
nothing wanting but the spark to ignite it. A letter from Moreau to the
Consul appeared in the columns of the Government paper; in which, after
recapitulating in terms most suitable the services he had rendered the
Republic while in command of the army of the Rhine,--the confidence the
Convention had always placed in him, the frequent occasions which
had presented themselves to him of gratifying ambitious views (had he
conceived such he adverted, in brief but touching terms, to his
conduct on the 18th Brumaire in seconding the adventurous step taken by
Bonaparte himself, and attributed the neglect his devotion had met
with, rather to the interference and plotting of his enemies than to
any estrangement on the part of the Consul.) Throughout the whole of the
epistle there reigned a tone of reverence for the authority of Bonaparte
most striking and remarkable; there was nothing like an approach to
the equality which might well be supposed to subsist between two great
generals,--albeit the one was at the height of power, and the other sunk
in the very depth of misfortune. On the contrary, the letter was nothing
more than an appeal to old souvenirs and former services to one who
possessed the power, if he had the will, to save him; it breathed
throughout the sentiments of one who demands a favor, and that favor his
life and honor, at the hands of him who had already constituted himself
the fountain of both.

While such was the position of Moreau,--a position which resulted in his
downfall,--chance informed as of the different ground occupied by his
companion in misfortune, the Greneral Pichegru.

About three days after the publication of Moreau's letter, we were
walking as usual in the garden of the Temple, when a huissier came up,
and beckoning to two of the prisoners, desired them to follow him. Such
was the ordinary course by which one or more were daily summoned before
the tribunal for examination, and we took no notice of what had become
a matter of every-day occurrence, and went