"M. Stapfer makes a
boast of having obtained the First Consul's consent to withdraw the
French troops entirely from Switzerland. I learn from some
well-disposed Swiss who are here that such a consent has been given;
but they consider it only as a measure calculated to increase the
disturbances in their country and to furnish a pretext for the French
to enter it again."]

[Footnote 223: Reding, in a pamphlet published shortly after this
time, gave full particulars of his interviews with Bonaparte at Paris,
and stated that he had fully approved of his (Reding's) federal plans.
Neither Bonaparte nor Talleyrand ever denied this.]

[Footnote 224: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., despatches of October
29th, 1802, and January 28th, 1803.]

[Footnote 225: Napoleon avowed this in his speech to the Swiss
deputies at St. Cloud, December 12th, 1802.]

[Footnote 226: Lord Hawkesbury's note of October 10th, 1802, the
appeal of the Swiss, and the reply of Mr. Moore from Constance, are
printed in full in the papers presented to Parliament, May 18th, 1803.

The Duke of Orleans wrote from Twickenham a remarkable letter to Pitt,
dated October 18th, 1802, offering to go as leader to the Swiss in the
cause of Swiss and of European independence: "I am a natural enemy to
Bonaparte and to all similar Governments....England and Austria can
find in me all the advantages of my being a French prince. Dispose of
me, Sir, and show me the way. I will follow it." See Stanhope's "Life
of Pitt," vol. iii., ch. xxxiii.]

[Footnote 227: See Roederer, "oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 454, for the
curious changes which Napoleon prescribed in the published reports of
these speeches; also Stapfer's despatch of February 3rd, 1803, which
is more trustworthy than the official version in Napoleon's
"Correspondance." This, however, contains the menacing sentence: "It
is recognized by Europe that Italy and Holland, as well as
Switzerland, are at the disposition of France."]

[Footnote 228: It is only fair to say that they had recognized their
mistake and had recently promised equality of rights to the formerly
subject districts and to all classes. See Muralt's "Reinhard," p.
113.]

[Footnote 229: See, _inter alia_, the "Moniteur" of August 8th,
October 9th, November 6th, 1802; of January 1st and 9th, February
19th, 1803.]

[Footnote 230: Lord Whitworth's despatches of February 28th and March
3rd, 1803, in Browning's "England and Napoleon."]

[Footnote 231: Secr