ion with the head of the House
of Bourbon, then resident in Poland. He proposed that Louis should
execute a formal deed resigning for himself and his family all
pretensions to the throne of France, and offered in return to put the
Bourbon princes in possession of independent dominions in Italy. The
heir of the French kings answered in language worthy of his birth: "I do
not confound Monsieur Buonaparte," said he, "with those who have
preceded him. I esteem his bravery and military genius, and I owe him
goodwill for many of the acts of his government--for benefits done to my
people I will always consider as done to me. But he is mistaken if he
supposes that my rights can ever be made the subject of bargain and
compromise. Could they have been called in question, this very
application would have established them. What the designs of God may be
for me and my house I know not; but of the duties imposed on me by the
rank in which it was His pleasure I should be born, I am not wholly
ignorant. As a Christian, I will perform those duties while life
remains. As a descendant of St. Louis, I will know how to respect
myself, were I in fetters. As the successor of Francis the First, I
will, at least, say with him--'all is lost except honour.'"

Such is the account of the Bourbon princes. Buonaparte utterly denied
having given any authority for such a negotiation; and added, that in
doing so he should have played the part of a madman, since any
application to Louis must have been an admission that his own authority
in France was imperfect in title. It is obvious that the Consul would
have acted most imprudently in avowing such an attempt--after it had
proved unsuccessful; but the veracity of the exiled king lies under no
suspicion; nor is it easy to believe that Meyer would have dared to open
such a negotiation without sufficient authority from Napoleon. Hitherto
he had betrayed no symptom of personal malevolence towards the House of
Bourbon--but henceforth the autocrat, insulted as he thought in the
style of "_Monsieur_ Buonaparte," appears to have meditated some signal
act of revenge.

He resented the refusal of Louis the more because he doubted not that
that prince well understood how little the great powers of Europe were
disposed to regard, with favourable eyes, the establishment of the
Buonapartes as a new dynasty in France. He suspected, in a word, that
his recent disputes with the cabinet of St. James's, had inspired new
h