Princes give money to the soldiers,
they drink it out to your health, and when they are forced to cry
_Vive le Roi!_ they add in a whisper, _de Rome_."--"And so they still
love me?" (smiling.)--"Yes, Sire, and I may even venture to say, more
than ever."--"What do they say about our misfortunes?"--"They consider
them as the effect of treachery; and they constantly repeat, that they
never would have been conquered, if they had not been sold to their
enemies. They are particularly indignant with respect to the
capitulation of Paris."--"They are right: had it not been for the
infamous defection of the Duke of Ragusa, the allies would have been
lost. I was master of their rear, and of all their resources; not a
man would have escaped. They too would have had their twenty-ninth
bulletin. Marmont is a wretch; he has ruined his country, and
delivered up his sovereign. His convention with Schwartzenburg would
alone suffice to dishonour him. If he had not known when he
surrendered, that he compromised my person and my army, he would not
have found it necessary to make stipulations in favour of my liberty
and life. This piece of treachery is not the only one. He has
intrigued with Talleyrand to take the regency from the Empress, and
the crown from my son. Caulincourt, Macdonald, and the rest of the
marshals, have been cheated and gulled by him in the most shameful
manner. All his blood would not be sufficient to expiate the harm
which he has done to France.... I will devote his name to the
execration of posterity. I am glad to learn that my soldiers retain
the feeling of their superiority, and that they attribute our great
misfortunes to the right authors. I collect with great pleasure, from
the intelligence which you have brought, that the opinion which I had
formed respecting the situation of France, is correct. The family of
the Bourbons is not fit to reign. Their government may be good for
priests, nobles, and old fashioned countesses: it is good for nothing
for the present generation. The revolution has taught the people to
know their rank in the state. They will never consent to fall back
into their former nullity, and to be tied up by the nobility and the
clergy. The army can never belong to the Bourbons. Our victories and
our misfortunes have established an indissoluble tie between the army
and myself. It is only through me that the soldiers can earn
vengeance, power, and glory. From the Bourbons they can get nothing
but