e English general. Massena might flatter his
master with the announcement that he was besieging Lisbon; but in
reality his own army very soon suffered all the inconveniences and
privations of a besieged garrison. The country around him had been laid
waste: every Portuguese peasant was a deadly enemy. To advance was
impossible, and there was infinite difficulty in keeping his
communications open behind. Thus, during many months, the two armies lay
face to face in inaction.

[Footnote 60: The leopards had been changed into lions in the English
shield five hundred years before this! To such small matters could
Buonaparte's rancour stoop.]

CHAPTER XXVIII

Events of the year 1811--Birth of the King of Rome--Disgrace of
Fouche--Discontents in France--Relations with Russia--Licence
System--Napoleon prepares for War with Russia--The Campaign in the
Peninsula--Massena's Retreat--Battle of Fuentes d'Onor--Lord
Wellington blockades Ciudad Rodrigo--Retreats--Joseph wishes to
Abdicate.

On the 20th of April, 1811, Napoleon's wishes were crowned by the birth
of a son. The birth was a difficult one, and the nerves of the medical
attendant were shaken. "She is but a woman," said the Emperor, who was
present: "treat her as you would a _Bourgeoise_ of the _Rue St. Denis_."
The accoucheur at a subsequent moment withdrew Napoleon from the couch,
and demanded whether, in case one life must be sacrificed, he should
prefer the mother's or the child's. "The mother's," he answered; "it is
her right!" At length the child appeared, but without any sign of life.
After the lapse of some minutes a feeble cry was heard, and Napoleon
entering the ante-chamber in which the high functionaries of the state
were assembled, announced the event in these words: "It is a King of
Rome."

The birth of the heir of Napoleon was received with as many
demonstrations of loyal enthusiasm as had ever attended that of a
Dauphin; yet, from what has been said as to the light in which various
parties of men in France from the beginning viewed the Austrian
alliance, it may be sufficiently inferred that the joy on this occasion
was far from universal. The royalists considered the event as fatal to
the last hopes of the Bourbons; the ambitious generals despaired of any
future dismemberment of the empire: the old republicans, who had endured
Buonaparte's despotic power as the progeny of the revolution, looked
forward with deep dis