400 persons were present in the salon, from one of whom I
received these details. When the Emperor saw M. Lemercier, for whom he
had long pretended great friendship, he said to him in a kind tone,
"Well, Lemercier, you are now installed." Lemercier respectfully bowed
to the Emperor; but without uttering a word of reply. Napoleon was
mortified at this silence, but without saying anything more to Lemercier
he turned to Esmenard, the member who should have been most acceptable to
him, and vented upon him the whole weight of his indignation in a manner
equally unfeeling and unjust. "Well, Esmenard," said he, "do you still
hold your place in the police?" These words were spoken in so loud a
tone as to be heard by all present; and it was doubtless this cruel and
ambiguous speech which furnished the enemies of Esmenard with arms to
attack his reputation as a man of honour, and to give an appearance of
disgrace to those functions which he exercised with so much zeal and
ability.

When, at the commencement of 1811, I left Paris I had ceased to delude
myself respecting the brilliant career which seemed opening before me
during the Consulate. I clearly perceived that since Bonaparte, instead
of receiving me as I expected, had refused to see me at all, the
calumnies of my enemies were triumphant, and that I had nothing to hope
for from an absolute ruler, whose past injustice rendered him the more
unjust. He now possessed what he had so long and ardently wished
for,--a son of his own, an inheritor of his name, his power, and his
throne. I must take this opportunity of stating that the malevolent and
infamous rumours spread abroad respecting the birth of the King of Rome
were wholly without foundation. My friend Corvisart, who did not for a
single instant leave Maria Louisa during her long and painful labour,
removed from my mind every doubt on the subject. It is as true that the
young Prince, for whom the Emperor of Austria stood sponsor at the font,
was the son of Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria Louisa as it is false
that Bonaparte was the father of the first child of Hortense. The birth
of the son of Napoleon was hailed with general enthusiasm. The Emperor
was at the height of his power from the period of the birth of his son
until the reverse he experienced after the battle of the Moskowa. The
Empire, including the States possessed by the Imperial family, contained
nearly 57,000,000 of inhabitants; but the period was fast appr