om Paris at this period brought intelligence of the
brilliant state of the capital during the winter of 1809, and especially
of the splendour of the Imperial Court, where the Emperor's levees were
attended by the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, all eager to
evince their gratitude to the hero who had raised them to the sovereign
rank.

I was the first person in Hamburg who received intelligence of Napoleon's
projected marriage with the Archduchess Maria Louisa. The news was
brought to me from Vienna by two estafettes. It is impossible to
describe the effect produced by the anticipation of this event throughout
the north of Germany.

--["Napoleon often reflected on the best mode of making this
communication to the Empress; still he was reluctant to speak to
her. He was apprehensive of the consequences of her susceptibility
of feeling; his heart was never proof against the shedding of tears.
Ho thought, however, that a favourable opportunity offered for
breaking the subject previously to his quitting Fontainebleau. He
hinted at it in a few words which he had addressed to the Empress,
but he did not explain himself until the arrival of the viceroy,
whom he had ordered to join him. He was the first person who spoke
openly to his mother and obtained her consent for that bitter
sacrifice. He acted on the occasion like a kind son and a man
grateful to his benefactor and devoted to his service, by sparing
him the necessity of unpleasant explanations towards a partner whose
removal was a sacrifice as painful to him as it was affecting: The
Emperor, having arranged whatever related to the future condition of
the Empress, upon whom he made a liberal settlement, urged the
moment of the dissolution of the marriage, no doubt because he felt
grieved at the condition of the Empress herself, who dined every day
and passed her evenings in the presence of persons who were
witnessing her descent from the throne. There existed between him
and the Empress Josephine no other bond than a civil act, according
to the custom which prevailed at the time of this marriage. Now the
law had foreseen the dissolution of such marriage oontracts. A
particular day having therefore been fixed upon, the Emperor brought
together into his apartments those persons whose ministry was
required in this case; amongst others, the Arch-Chancellor and M.
Regnault de St. Jean d'