ever asked anything from her but to shut her ports
against England.

He wished, he said, to favour the re-establishment of the old
families, but every time he touched that chord an alarm was raised,
and the people trembled as a horse does when he is checked.

He told the story of the poisoning, and said there was some truth
in it--he had wished to give opium to two soldiers who had got the
plague and could not be carried away, rather than leave them to be
murdered by the Turks, but the physician would not consent. He said
that after talking the subject over very often he had changed his
mind on the morality of the measure. He owned to shooting the
Turks, and said they had broken their capitulation. He found great
fault with the French Admiral who fought the battle of the Nile,
and pointed out what he ought to have done, but he found most fault
with the Admiral who fought--R. Calder--for not disabling his
fleet, and said that if he could have got the Channel clear then,
or at any other time, he would have invaded England.

He said the Emperor of Russia was clever and had "idees liberales,"
but was a veritable Grec. At Tilsit, the Emperor of Russia, King of
Prussia, and N. used to dine together. They separated early--the
King of Prussia went to bed, and the two Emperors met at each
other's quarters and talked, often on abstract subjects, till late
in the night. The King of Prussia a mere corporal, and the Emperor
of Austria very prejudiced--"d'ailleurs honnete homme."

Berthier quite a pen-and-ink man--but "bon diable qui servit le
premier, a me temoigner ses regrets, les larmes aux yeux."

Metternich a man of the world, "courtisan des femmes," but too
false to be a good statesman-"car en politique il ne faut pas etre
_trop_ menteur."

It was his maxim not to displace his Marshals, which he had carried
to a fault in the case of Marmont, who lost his cannon by
treachery, he believed--I forget where. The Army liked him, he had
rewarded them well.

Talleyrand had been guilty of such extortion in the peace with
Austria and with Bavaria that he was complained against by those
Powers and therefore removed--it was he who advised the war with
Spain, and prevented N. from seeing the Duke d'Enghien, whom he
thought a "brave jeune homme," and wished to see.

He said he had b