he and his mother-in-law considered they were entitled to
as much attention as Madame Bonaparte received. Pride, jealousy and
vanity, he declared, were the real source of the quarrel. Decaen, indeed,
has a story that when Madame Moreau once called upon Josephine at
Malmaison, she returned in an angry state of mind because she was not at
once admitted, bidding a servant tell her mistress that the wife of
General Moreau was not accustomed to be kept waiting. The simple
explanation was that Josephine was in her bath!

Decaen came to be appointed Governor of Ile-de-France in this way. One
day, after dining with Napoleon at Malmaison, the First Consul took a
stroll with him, and in the course of conversation asked him what he
wanted to do. "I have my sword for the service of my country," said
Decaen. "Very good," answered Napoleon, "but what would you like to do
now?" Decaen then mentioned that he had been reading the history of the
exploits of La Bourdonnaye and Dupleix in India, and was much attracted
by the possibilities for the expansion of French power there. "Have you
ever been to India?" enquired Napoleon. "No, but I am young, and,
desiring to do something useful, I should like to undertake a mission
which I believe would not be likely to be coveted by many, having regard
to the distance between France and that part of the world. And even if it
were necessary to spend ten years of my life awaiting a favourable
opportunity of acting against the English, whom I detest because of the
injury they have done to our country, I should undertake the task with
the utmost satisfaction." Napoleon merely observed that what he desired
might perhaps be arranged.

A few months later Decaen was invited to breakfast with Napoleon at
Malmaison. He was asked whether he was still inclined to go to India, and
replied that he was. "Very well, then, you shall go." "In what capacity?"
"As Captain-General. Go and see the Minister of Marine, and tell him to
show you all the papers relative to the expedition that is in course of
being fitted out."

Under the treaty of Amiens, negotiated in 1801, Great Britain agreed to
restore to the French Republic and its allies all conquests made during
the recent wars except Trinidad and Ceylon. From the British point of
view it was an inglorious peace. Possessions which had been won in fair
fight, by the ceaseless activity and unparalleled efficiency of the Navy,
and by the blood and valour of British man