2d, Etaples:
This country resembles that of Æolus!

4th, Boulogne:
(To the Consul Cambacérès.) There is no objection to a sword being presented to General Junot, and it is not unseemly that a plain statement of the fact should be made public. Beyond that the thing would be absurd. One might well ask: What would the city of Paris do at that rate for the general who first set foot in England? The City of London gave Nelson a sword after the battle of the Nile. I say this not in the sense that General Junot does not deserve a sword, but that he has done nothing noteworthy since becoming governor of Paris.

12th, Paris:
The land tax must be cut down by 10 millions of francs in the budget of 1804. This reduction will act as a passport for the new tax on alcohol. One must know where to give, and where to take.

16th. Lyceums and secondary schools are going up everywhere.

February 13th, Malmaison:
(To General Soult.) These last eight days we have been hunting a band of 40 ruffians, headed by Georges, who landed in three batches between Tréport and Dieppe. That scoundrel Pichegru has followed Georges and the rest to Paris; we know where they slept Sunday. The depositions of some whom we have arrested implicate generals of the highest rank. If we can verify this, justice shall be done. I thought it best to notify you at once so that you can get on the track of any intrigues there may be in your army. From the veiled character of part of my dispatch, you must see that I do not care to speak out for the moment. The police hold out hopes that they will catch Pichegru and Georges to-day.

16th. (To Régnier.) Please issue a writ to arrest General Souham and General Liébert, charged with conspiracy against the state with Generals Moreau, Pichegru, and the outlaw Georges.

Guess what I've just done! I have ordered the arrest of Moreau; it will make a fine scandal, won't it? People will not omit to say that I am jealous of Moreau, that it's a revenge, and a thousand silly things of the same kind. I, jealous of Moreau!

18th. (To the Senate.) Since the day on which I attained the Chief Magistracy numerous plots have been formed to kill me; they were really conspiracies against the glory, the liberty, the destinies of the French nation. Our citizens must allay their fears; my life will last as long as it is necessary to the nation.

19th. (To General Soult.) Moreau has been arrested; and fifteen or sixteen of the ruffians; the rest have taken to flight. Fifteen horses and some uniforms have been found that were to have been used in attacking me on the road between Malmaison and Paris.

March 1st. Pichegru was arrested yesterday. He was not able to use either his pistols or his dagger. He fought with his fists for half an hour against three or four picked policemen.

8th, Malmaison:
We are making arrests every day. I think it is certain that Georges and a few of his men are still in Paris.

9th, Paris:
The case against Moreau and Pichegru is being worked up by the Criminal Tribunal of the Seine.

10th. (To General Berthier.) Please give orders to General Ordener, whom I place at your disposal, to start to-night for Strassburg. He is to proceed to Ettenheim, to surround the city, and to seize the Duke d'Enghien, Dumouriez, an English colonel, and any other persons in the party.

12th, Malmaison:
(To General Soult.) Paris is still held closed by the police, and will be kept so until these ruffians are all under arrest. I may tell you, in the strictest confidence, that I hope to get Dumouriez. The rascal is near our frontiers.

(To General Marmont.) As soon as you reach the camp, form a line of battalions, and spend eight hours in reviewing the men one by one; listen to their complaints, inspect their arms, and see that nothing is missing. These reviews of seven or eight hours are very profitable; they accustom the men to remain under arms, and show them that their officers are not dissipating, but are concerned for their welfare, a thing that inspires the soldier with much confidence.

14th. In the present situation of Europe my policy aims straight at England. I have at Boulogne 1000 gun-boats and flatboats that will carry 100,000 men and 10,000 horses.

19th. Citoyen General Murat: I have received your letter. If the Duke de Berry were in Paris at the house of M. de Cobenzl, and if M. d'Orléans were staying with the Marquis di Gallo, not only would I have them arrested this very night and shot, but I would also have these ambassadors arrested and make them suffer the same fate; the law of nations would not be seriously affected.

There is no other prince in Paris than the Duke d'Enghien, who will arrive at Vincennes to-morrow. Get that well into your head, and don't listen to anything you may hear to the contrary.

20th. The ci-devant Duke d'Enghien, accused of having carried arms against the Republic, of having been and still being in the pay of England, of plotting with that Power against the security, internal and external, of the Republic, shall be tried by a court-martial of seven members appointed by the governor of Paris, assembled at Vincennes.

4 P.M.
(To General Murat.) The Duke d'Enghien is to be taken to the fort of Vincennes, where arrangements have been made to receive him. He is travelling under the name of Plessis.

4.30 P. M.
(To citoyen Harel.) A person whose name is to remain unknown to you is to be sent to the fort which you command; place him in the room that is vacant, taking proper precautions against his escape. The intention of the Government is that everything relating to him should be kept very secret, and that no questions should be addressed to him as to his identity, or the reason for his arrest.

(To citoyen Réal.) Apparently the Duke d'Enghien started at midnight on the 17th. He will therefore soon be here. I have just issued the decree of which I enclose you a copy. Proceed to Vincennes at once to examine the prisoner. Here are the questions to put to him:

Have you borne arms against your country?

Have you accepted the pay of England?

What knowledge have you of the plot formed by England for overturning the Government of the Republic? On that plot meeting with success, were you not to enter Alsace, and even march on Paris, in given circumstances?

You must take with you the public prosecutor, who is to be the major of the special gendarmerie, and you must instruct him to put things through quickly.

21st. Execution of the Duke d'Enghien.
I will respect the judgment of public opinion when it is well founded; but when capricious it must be met with contempt. I have behind me the will of the nation and an army of 500,000 men. With that 1 can command respect for the Republic. I could have had the Duke d'Enghien shot publicly; and if I have not done so, I held back not from fear, but to prevent the secret adherents of his House from breaking out and ruining themselves. They have kept quiet; it is all I ask of them.

I will not consent to a peace with England unless she expels the Bourbons, just as Louis XIV expelled the Stuarts, because their presence in England will always be dangerous for France. Russia, Sweden, Prussia have driven them out.

22d. These people wanted an upheaval in France, and by killing me to kill the Revolution; it has been for me to defend and to avenge it. I have shown what it can do. The Duke d'Enghien was a conspirator just like any other, and it was necessary to treat him as any other might be treated. The Bourbons will always look at things through the Œil de Bœuf, and are fated to live under an eternal delusion. Ah! it would have been a different matter had they appeared like Henry IV on a battlefield, all covered with dust and with blood. Kingdoms are not won by letters dated "London" and signed "Louis." I have shed blood, I shall perhaps shed more, but never in anger, and merely because bloodletting enters into the practice of political medicine.

April 5th. Mr. Edward Livingston, President of the Academy of Arts of New York: I have learned with interest of the formation of a literary society in New York; and as your Academy has been so kind as to elect me a member, pray inform it that I accept with pleasure, and that I am grateful for its good opinion of me.

6th. (To Pauline Borghese.) Madam and dear sister: I learn with regret that you have not enough good sense to conform with the customs and habits of the city of Rome; that you show contempt for the inhabitants, and that Paris is your constant model. Although busy with matters of grave importance, yet I have thought it best to inform you of my views, hoping that you will conform with them.

Love your husband and your family; be obliging; accustom yourself to the habits of the city of Rome; and be persuaded that if at the age you have now reached you give way to bad advice, you can no longer count on me.

14th. The General Councils of Departments, the Electoral Colleges, and all the great Bodies of the State, demand that an end should be made of the hopes of the Bourbons by securing the Republic from the upheavals of elections and the uncertainty attending the life of an individual.

15th. It is not as a general that I rule, but because the nation believes I have the civilian qualifications for governing. My system is quite simple. It has seemed to me that under the circumstances the thing to do was to centralize power and increase the authority of the Government, so as to constitute the Nation. I am the constituent power.

I can best compare a constitution to a ship; if you allow the wind to fill your sails, you go you know not whither, according to the wind that drives you; but if you make use of the rudder, you can go to Martinique with a wind that is driving you to San Domingo. No constitution has remained fixed. Change is governed by men and by circumstances. If an overstrong government is undesirable, a weak one is much worse.

25th. Senators: I have constantly kept in mind your address of the 6th of Germinal; I have carefully meditated on it. You have decided that the heredity of the supreme magistracy was necessary to protect the French people from the plots of our enemies and from the dissensions of conflicting factions. I therefore invite you to disclose your intentions fully.

May 18th. Proclamation of the Empire.
(To the Consul Cambacérès.) Citoyen Consul: your title is about to change; your functions and my confidence in you remain unchanged. You will continue to display in the high dignity of Arch Chancellor of the Empire, as you did in that of Consul, the wisdom in counsel and the distinguished talent that have made your share so large in all that I may have accomplished.
 

Settle the titles to be given to the Senators and high dignitaries of the Empire.

Call the high dignitaries Highness, the Senators Excellency.

The Senate as a body is to be known as Sénat Conservateur. In private, use Monsieur, and to the Ministers as well.
 

Everything that can increase the happiness of the country is completely bound up with my own. I accept a title that you believe will be of service to the nation. I will submit to the people the law concerning the hereditary power. I hope that France will never regret the honours she has showered on my family.

The members of the Senate, of the Council of State, and of the Tribunate, the presidents and secretaries of the Legislative Body, and the president of the Court of Appeal will take the oath to the Emperor in person.

20th. For the moment I shall exclude two of my brothers from the succession, one of them because, despite his intelligence, he has contracted a masquerade marriage; the other because he has had the impudence, without my consent, to marry an American. I will reinstate them if they give up their wives.

29th. You Frenchmen love monarchy. It is the only government you really like. I will bet that you, Monsieur Rémusat, are a hundred times more comfortable now that you address me as Sire.

June 3d, Saint Cloud:
Russia, which has assumed mourning for the Duke d'Enghien, has thereby reminded Europe of the assassination of Paul I, which was nearly forgotten.

18th. The trial of the conspirators has started much gossip in Paris. The more than merciful judgment of the weak Tribunal of the Seine will be carried out as soon as the lawful period for entering an appeal has expired. Although I have pardoned several persons, there will still he a dozen ruffians who cannot be pardoned and who must meet their fate. As to General Moreau, although he was not condemned to death, he has been dishonoured by the verdict.

July 1st. Imagine the effect of the Emperor and his family decked in their imperial robes and exposed to the effects of the weather, the mud, the dust, or the rain! What a joke for the Parisians, who are so keen to ridicule everything, and who are used to seeing Chéron at the 0péra and Talma at the Théâtre Français play the Emperor a good deal better than I can. It has been suggested that the ceremony should take place at the Church of the Invalides because of its military associations, but Notre Dame will be better; it is larger, and also has associations that appeal more strongly to the imagination. It will lend dignity to the ceremony.

2d, Malmaison:
All this will last as long as I do; when I am gone, my son may think himself lucky if he has 40,000 francs a year!
 
 

(To Vice-Admiral Latouche-Tréville.) Let me know by return what day you can weigh anchor, weather permitting. Inform me also as to the position of the enemy, -- where Nelson is. Think over carefully the great enterprise you are about to carry out; and let me know, before I sign your final orders, your own views as to the best way of carrying it out.

We have 1800 gunboats and cutters carrying 120,000 men and 10,000 horses between Etaples, Boulogne, Wimereux, and Ambleteuse. If we are masters of the Channel for six hours, we are masters of the world!

If you take Nelson in he will sail for Sicily, Egypt, or Ferrol. It would seem better, therefore, to sail very wide, to appear before Rochefort, which would give you a fleet of 16 of the line and 11 frigates, and then without delay, without touching, whether by circling around Ireland, or by carrying out the first plan, proceed to Boulogne. Our Brest fleet, 23 of the line, will have troops on board, and will remain constantly under sail, so that Cornwallis must keep close in to the coast of Brittany to prevent its getting out. But before my ideas are quite settled about these operations, which offer great risks but of which the success would mean so much, I shall wait for the plan you are to send me.

21st, Pont-de-Briques:
(To Josephine.) Madam and dear wife: It is now four days since I left you. I have spent them in the saddle and otherwise active, without any ill effect on my health.

The wind freshened to-night, and one of our gunboats dragged its anchor and struck on the rocks about one league from Boulogne; I thought all would be lost, the ship and the crew, but we were able to save them. The sight was a grand one; alarm guns were being fired; the shore seemed to blaze with fire; the sea roared furiously; all through the night we anxiously awaited the destruction or the safety of the unhappy men. My soul was in communion with Eternity, the Ocean, and Night! At five in the morning the weather cleared; all were saved; and I went tobed under the impression of a romantic and epic dream; a state that might have suggested to me my own solitude, were it not that fatigue and my soaked condition had left me with no other desire than sleep.

27th. Yesterday I reviewed the whole flotilla. Compared with that of England, our situation is most favourable. The war has no ill effect on France, because of its weighing so heavily on England, and I have here around me 120,000 men, and 3000 cutters and gunboats, that only await a favourable breeze to carry the Imperial eagle to the Tower of London. Time and Fate alone can tell what will come of it all.

30th. Order for the return to England of Lord Tweeddale, an English prisoner at Verdun, as a tribute to the talents and character of Mr. Fox.

August 3d. There are signs of a coalition forming; I shall not give them time to complete it; it is not right that Austria, by such equivocal conduct, should hold 300,000 men at attention on the shores of the Channel. The court of Vienna will have to come out of its ambiguous attitude, and if Vienna is so mad as to attempt the fortune of war again, and listen to the suggestions of London, woe betide the Austrian monarchy!

6th. The police commissioner at Boulogne is an excellent young man, but very young; at his age it is not possible to realize the depth of human perversity.

17th. The ceremony went off splendidly yesterday, except for a high wind. The spectacle was novel and imposing. Rarely have so many bayonets been seen together.

September 3d, Aix-la-Chapelle:
I must have a talk with Villeneuve about the great plan his fleet is to carry out.

6th. (To Vice-Admiral Ganteaume.) If you could carry 16,000 men and 1000 horses to Ireland in November, it would be fatal to our enemies. Tell me if you could be ready, and what are the probabilities of success. Have a talk with the Irish general O'Connor about the points where we might disembark.

I have no naval commanders. I would like to create a few rear-admirals, but I would prefer to select the men who showed most promise, regardless of seniority.

12th. Castle of La Haye, near Guelders:
I am here to-day in a little castle on the border of the Empire. I visited Crevelt yesterday, and am going to Venloo this morning. It was time this country was looked up both from the point of view of military fortification and of administration.

(To Decrès.) The navy must be tuned up by making a few examples. It's the only way to get a navy. Every naval expedition we have attempted since I have been at the head of the Government has failed, because the admirals see double and have picked up the idea, I don't know where, that you can make war without running risks.

I have sent you some reports on St. Helena.

15th, Cologne:
(To the Pope.) Holy Father: The excellent influence which the reëstablishment of the Christian religion has had on the habits and character of my people leads me to beg Your Holiness to give me a new proof of your interest in me and in this great nation, in one of the most important events recorded in the annals of humanity. I ask you to give the sanction of religion to the ceremony attending the consecration and coronation of the first Emperor of the French.

Treat the Pope as though he had 200,000 men.

27th. (To Marshal Berthier.) My Cousin: The expedition to Ireland will take place. You must confer with Marshal Augereau on the matter. We have at Brest transports for 18,000 men. General Marmont is ready on his side with 25,000. He will attempt to land in Ireland and will be under the orders of Marshal Augereau. At the same time the Grand Army will embark at Boulogne, and will make every effort to effect a landing in Kent. The navy holds out hopes of being ready on the 22d of October.

November 4th. It is from a sense of justice that I will not divorce her! It may be that my personal interests, or even the interests of my system call for my marrying again. But I said to myself: How can I put away this excellent woman, just because I am becoming great? No, that is beyond me. I have the heart of a man; it was not a tigress gave me birth. When she dies I will marry again, and perhaps I shall have children. But I will not make her unhappy.

Joseph is not marked out for my succession; he is older than I am; I shall probably outlive him, my health is good; and then he was not born in a high enough rank to maintain the illusion. I was born in poverty; he also was born in the most mediocre of surroundings; I have risen by my deeds; he has remained where his birth placed him. To reign in France, one must be born great, have been seen in childhood in a palace, surrounded with guards, or else be a man capable of raising himself above all others.

My mistress is power; I have done too much to conquer her to let her be snatched away from me. Although it may be said that power came to me of its own accord, yet I know what labour, what sleepless nights, what scheming, it has involved.

They are jealous of my wife, of Eugène, of Hortense, of all that is near me. What does it amount to? My wife has diamonds, - and debts! Eugène has an income of 20,000 francs a year! I love those children, because they are always trying to please me. If the cannon is fired, it is Eugène who runs out to see what it's about. If I have to cross a ditch, his hand is ready to help me. I love Hortense, yes, I love her; she and her brother always take my side, even against their mother, when she gets angry about some girl or such trivial matters. If Hortense should ask to see me while I was in the Council of State, I would go out to receive her. If Madame Murat (Caroline Bonaparte) asked for me, I would not go out. With her it's always a pitched battle; to bring a chit of a woman of my own family to reason, I must needs deliver harangues as long as if she were the Senate and the Council of State together. They say my wife is unfaithful, and that the attentions of her children are forced. Well! so be it! They treat me like an old uncle, and it makes the pleasant side of my life; I am getting old, - I'm thirty-six, I need rest.

They say I am going to give Italy to Eugène: so help me, I am not mad enough for that! I think myself capable of governing Italy, and even the Venetian state! My wife is a good wife, who does them no harm. She merely plays the Empress a little, has diamonds, fine dresses, the trifles of her age. I have never loved her blindly. If I have created her Empress, it was but bare justice. Yes, she shall be crowned! She shall be crowned if it costs me 200,000 men!

And then you are always talking to me about my death! My death! Always, my death! A very unpleasant idea to have constantly thrust under one's nose! If I could not find a little happiness in my family life, I should be a very unfortunate being. My death! My death! Always my death! Eh! may the universe break up after I've gone, if I am always to have the thought of death before me.

I speak to you as a friend, as the president of the Committee of the Interior. I know you, but I don't know the other persons who revolve about Joseph. How on earth could he have gone to Fouché, a little while ago, to complain that Madame Joseph would have to carry the train of the Empress at the Coronation? Well, if the restiveness of Joseph comes from the acrid blood that flows in his veins, he must retire to the country. He enjoys the rustic life and pastoral poetry; let him go off and compose idylls.

5th, Saint Cloud:
(To Cardinal Fesch.) It is absolutely necessary for the Pope to accelerate his journey. I am willing to postpone things till the 2d of December, which is my latest possible date. If the Pope is not here by then, the Coronation will take place, and the Consecration will be deferred. It is not possible to detain in Paris the troops and the departmental deputations, amounting to 50,000 persons.

December 1st, Paris:
I ascend the throne to which the unanimous votes of the Senate, the People, and the Army have called me, my heart full of the destinies of a Nation which I, from the midst of camps, first proclaimed great.

My descendants will long fill this throne.

2d, Notre Dame. The Coronation.

I swear that I will govern with the sole purpose of securing the interests, the happiness, and the glory of the French people.

5th, Paris.

Soldiers, here are your standards; these eagles must always be your rallying points.

27th. Deputies of the Departments to the Legislative Body, Tribunes, and Members of the Council of State, I have come among you to preside over your opening session. I have sought to lend a more imposing dignity to your labours. Prince, magistrates, soldiers, citizens, each in his own sphere, will have but one aim, - the interests of the country. If this throne, to which Providence and the will of the people have called me, is precious in my eyes, it is for the sole reason that by it alone can the most precious rights of the French nation be preserved. Without a strong and paternal government, France would have to fear a return of the evils from which she once suffered. Weakness in the executive power is the greatest calamity of nations. As soldier, or First Consul, I had but one purpose; as Emperor, I have none other: the prosperity of France.

If death does not surprise me in the midst of my labours, I hope to leave to posterity a renown that may always serve as an example, or as a reproach, to my successors.