inventions of scandal, that so foolish an accusation could have been
imagined, as that any feeling less pure than paternal affection actuated
his conduct towards her. The vile calumny met the contempt it merited."

The testimony of Bourrienne upon this point is decisive. Bourrienne had
been the private secretary of Napoleon, had become his enemy, and had
joined the Bourbons. Upon the downfall of the Emperor he wrote a very
hostile life of Napoleon, being then in the employment of the Bourbons.
In those envenomed pages, Bourrienne says that he has written severely
enough against Napoleon, to have his word believed when he makes any
admission in his favor. He then writes:

"Napoleon never cherished for Hortense any feeling but a real paternal
tenderness. He loved her, after his marriage with her mother, as he
would have loved his own child. For three years at least I was witness
to all their most private actions. I declare that I never saw any thing
which could furnish the least ground for suspicion or the slightest
trace of culpable intimacy. This calumny must be classed with those
which malice delights to take with the character of men who become
celebrated; calumnies which are adopted lightly and without reflection.

"I freely declare that, did I retain the slightest doubt with regard to
this odious charge, I would avow it. But it is not true. Napoleon is no
more. Let his memory be accompanied only by that, be it good or bad,
which really took place. Let not this complaint be made against him by
the impartial historian. I must say, in conclusion, on this delicate
subject, that Napoleon's principles were rigid in the extreme; and that
any fault of the nature charged neither entered his mind, nor was in
accordance with his morals or taste."

Notwithstanding this abundant testimony, and notwithstanding the fact
that no contradictory testimony can be adduced, which any historian
could be pardoned for treating with respect, there are still men to be
found who will repeat those foul slanders, which ought long since to
have died away.

Napoleon remained but two months in the palace of the Luxembourg. In the
mean time the palace of the Tuileries, which had been sacked by
revolutionary mobs, was re-furnished with much splendor. In February the
Court of the Consuls was transferred to the Tuileries. Napoleon had so
entirely eclipsed his colleagues that he alone was thought of by the
Parisian populace. The royal apartments wer