gn of his brother-in-law; but, however this
may have been, it is certain that much intercourse subsisted, during his
stay at Elba, between the Queen of Naples and the female branches of the
family at Porto Ferraio; nor can anyone doubt either that Murat had
received some pretty distinct intimation of Napoleon's intended descent
in France--or that he ventured on his movement in the confidence that
this and the Emperor's would lend to each other much moral support--or
that, if Joachim had prospered, Napoleon would have considered what he
did as the best service that could have been rendered to himself.

Among the subjects which, prior to Buonaparte's reappearance, occupied
the Congress of Vienna, one of the chief was the conduct of Murat during
the campaign of 1814. Talleyrand charged him with having, throughout,
been a traitor to the cause of the Allies; and exhibited a series of
intercepted letters, from him to Napoleon, in proof of this allegation.
The Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, considered these documents as
proving no more than that Murat had reluctantly lifted his banner
against the author of his fortunes. Talleyrand had always hated Murat
and despised him--(the father of the King of Naples had originally been
steward in the household of the Perigords)--and persisted in urging on
the Congress the danger of suffering a sovereign of Buonaparte's family
and creation to sit on the throne which belonged of right to the King of
the Sicilies. The affair was still under discussion, to the mortal
annoyance of the person whose interests were at stake, when Napoleon
landed at Cannes. Murat resolved to rival his brother's daring; and,
without further pause, marched, at the head of 50,000 men, to Rome, from
which the Pope and cardinals fled precipitately at his approach. The
Neapolitans then advanced into the North of Italy, scattering
proclamations by which Joachim invited all true Italians to rally round
him, and assist in the erection of their country into one free and
independent state, with him at its head. The Austrian commander in
Lombardy forthwith put his troops in motion to meet Murat. The rencontre
took place at Occhiobello. The Neapolitans fled in confusion almost at
the sight of the enemy; and Murat, unable to rally them, sought personal
safety in a fishing vessel, which landed him near Toulon, about the end
of May. Napoleon was in vain entreated to receive him at Paris. He
refused, asking, with bitter sco