fices of Hamburg in the office of the Grand Duchy of Berg, thus
detaching them from the offices of Latour and Taxis, so named after the
German family who for a length of time had had the possession of them,
and who were devoted to Austria.

After some days of negotiation I obtained the suppression of these
offices, and their union with the postoffice of the Grand Due de Berg
(Murat), who thus received letters from Italy, Hungary, Germany, Poland,
part of Russia, and the letters from England for these countries.

The affair of the post-offices gained for me the approbation of Napoleon.
He expressed his satisfaction through the medium of a letter I received
from Duroc, who at the same time recommended me to continue informing the
Emperor of all that was doing in Germany with relation to the plans of
the Confederation of the North. I therefore despatched to the Minister
for Foreign Affairs a detailed letter, announcing that Baron Grote, the
Prussian Minister at Hamburg, had set off on a visit to Bremen and
Lubeck. Among those who accompanied him on this excursion was a person
wholly devoted to me; and I knew that Baron Grote's object was to offer
to these towns verbal propositions for their union with the Confederation
of the North, which the King of Prussia wished to form as a counterpoise
to the Confederation of the Rhine, just created by Napoleon. Baron Grote
observed the strictest secrecy in all his movements. He showed, in
confidence, to those to whom he addressed himself, a letter from M.
Haugwitz, the Minister of the King of Prussia,

--[In July 1806, after Austerlitz, Napoleon had formed the
"Confederation du Rhin." to include the smaller States of Germany,
who threw off all connection with the German Empire, and formed a
Confederation furnishing a considerable army. ]--

--[The Emperor of Germany, Francis IL, had already in 1804, on
Napoleon taking the title of Emperor, declared himself Hereditary
Emperor of Austria. After the formation of the Rhenish
Confederation and Napoleon's refusal to acknowledge the German
Empire any longer, he released the States of the Holy Roman Empire
from their allegiance, declared the Empire dissolved, and contented
himself with the title of Emperor of Austria, as Francis I.]--

who endeavoured to point out to the Hanse Towns how much the
Confederation of the North would turn to their advantage, it being the
only means of preserving their liberty,