regulation, according to which no women, who have not previously given in their names to the prefects of his palaces, and obtained previous permission, can approach his person, or throw themselves at his feet, without incurring his displeasure, and even arrest. Of this imperial decree, ladies, both of the capital, and of the provinces, when he travels, are officially informed. Notwithstanding this precaution, he was a second time, last spring, at Lyons, near falling the victim of the vengeance or malice of a female.

In his journey to be crowned King of Italy, he occupied his uncle's episcopal palace at Lyons, during the forty-eight hours he remained there. Most of the persons of both sexes, composing the household of cardinal Fesch, were from his own country, Corsica; among these was one of the name of Pauline Riotti, who inspected the economy of the kitchens. It is Buonaparte's custom to take a dish of chocolate in the forenoon, which she, on the morning of his departure, against her custom, but under pretence of knowing the taste of the family, desired to prepare. One of the cooks observed that she mixed with it something from her pocket, but without saying a word to her that indicated suspicion, he warned Buonaparte, in a note delivered to a page, to be upon his guard. When the chamberlain carried in the chocolate, Napoleone ordered the person who had prepared it to be brought before him. This being told Pauline, she fainted away, after having first drank the remaining contents of the chocolatepot. Her convulsions soon indicated that she was poisoned, and, notwithstanding the endeavours of Buonaparte's physician, Cor. visart, she expired within an hour, protesting that her crime was an act of revenge against Napoleone, who had seduced her when young, under a promise of marriage; but who, since his elevation had not only neglected her, but reduced her to despair, by refusing an honest support for herself and her child, sufficient to preserve her from the degradation of servitude. Cardinal Fesch received a severe reprimand for admitting among his domestics individuals with whose former lives he was not better acquainted; and the same day he dismissed every Corsican in his service. The cook was, with the reward of a pension, made a member of the legion of honour, and it was given out by Corvisart that Pauline died insane.

Within three weeks after this occurrence, Buonaparte was at Milan, again exposed to an imminent danger. According to his commands, the vigilance of the police had been very strict, and even severe. All strangers who could not give the most satisfactory account of themselves, had either been sent out of the country, or were imprisoned. He never went out but strongly attended, and during his audiences the most trusty officers always surrounded him; these precautions increased in proportion as the day of his coronation approached. On the morning of that day, about nine o'clock, when full-dressed in his imperial and royal robes, and all the grand officers of state by his side, a paper was delivered to him by his chamberlain Talleyrand, a nephew of the minister. The instant he had read it, he flew into the arms of Berthier, exclaiming, "My friend, I am betrayed ; are you among the number of conspirators? Jourdan, Lasnes, Mortier, Bessieres, St. Cyr, are you also forsaking your friend and benefactor?" They all instantly encompassed him, begging that he would calm himself; that they were all what they always had been, dutiful and faithful subjects. "But read this paper from my prefect Salmatoris; he says that if I move a step I may cease to live, as the assassins are near me, as well as before me.”

The commander of his guard then entered with fifty grenadiers, their bayonets fixed, bringing with them a prisoner, who pointed out four individuals not far from Buonaparte's person, two of whom were Italian officers, of the royal Italian guard, and two were dressed in Swiss uniforms. They were all immediately seized, and in their boots were found three daggers. One of those in Swiss regimentals exclaimed, before he was taken, "Tremble, tyrant of my country! Thousands of the descendants of William Tell have, with me, sworn your destruction. You escape this day; but the just vengeance of outraged humanity follows you like your shade. Depend upon it, an untimely end is irremediably reserved for you." So saying, he pierced his own heart, and fell a corpse into the arms of the grenadiers, who came to arrest him.

This incident suspended the procession to the cathedral for an hour, when Berthier announced that the conspirators were punished. Buonaparte evinced on this occasion the same absence of mind and of courage as on the 9th of November, 1799, when

Arena and other deputies drew their daggers against him at St. Cloud. As this scene did not redound much to the honour of the Emperor and King, all mention of the conspiracy was severely prohibited, and the deputations, ready to congratulate him on his escape, were dispersed to attend their other duties.

The conspirators are stated to have been four young men, who had lost their parents and fortunes by the revolutions effected by Buonaparte in Italy and Switzerland, and who had sworn fidelity to each other, and to avenge their individual wrongs, with the injuries of their countries at the same time. They were all prepared and resigned to die, expecting to be cut to pieces the moment Buonaparte fell by their hands; but one of the Italians, rather superstitious, had, before he went to the drawing-room, confessed, and received absolution from a priest, whom he knew to be an enemy of Buonaparte: but the priest, in hope of reward, disclosed the conspiracy to the master of the ceremonies, Salmatoris. The three surviving conspirators are said to have been literally torn to pieces by the engines of torture, and the priest was shot for having given absolution to an assassin, and for having concealed his knowledge of the plot an hour after he was acquainted with it. Even Salmatoris had some difficulty to avoid being disgraced, for having written a terrifying note, which had exposed the Emperor's weakness, and shown that his life was dearer to him at the head of empires than when only at the head of armies.

My narrative of this event I have from an officer present, whose veracity I can guarantee. He also informed me that, in consequence of it, all the officers of the Swiss brigades in the French service, that were quartèred or encamped in Italy, were to the number of near fifty dismissed at once. Of the Italian guards, every officer who was known to have suffered any losses by the new order of things in his country was ordered to resign, if he would not enter into the regiments of the line.

Whatever the police agents did to prevent it, and in spite of some unjust and cruel chastisement, Buonaparte continued, during his stay in Italy, an object of ridicule in conversation as well as in pamphlets and caricatures. One of these represented him in the ragged garb of a sans-culotte, pale and trembling, on his knees, with bewildered looks, and his hair standing ppright

on his head, like pointed horns, tearing the map of the world to pieces, and to save his life, offering each of his generals a slice, who in return regarded him with looks of contempt, mixed with pity.

I have just heard of a new plot, or rather a league, against Buonaparte's ambition. At its head the generals Jourdan, Macdonald, Le Courbe and Dessolles are placed, though many less victorious generals and officers, civil as well as military, are reported to be its members. Their object is not to remove or displace Buonaparte as an Emperor of the French; on the contrary, they offer their lives to strengthen his authority, and to resist his enemies; but they ask and advise him to renounce for himself, for his relations, and for France, all possessions on the Italian side of the Alps, as the only means to establish a permanent peace, and to avoid a war with other states, whose safety is endangered by our great encroachments. A mutinous kind of address to this effect has been sent to the camp of Boulogne, and to all other encampments of our troops, that those generals and other military persons there, who chose, might both see the object and the intent of the associates. It is reported that Buonaparte ordered it to be burnt by the hands of the common executioner at Boulogne; that sixteen officers there, who had subscribed their names in approbation of the address were broken, and dismissed with disgrace; that Jourdan is deprived of command in Italy, and ordered to render an account of his conduct to the emperor. Desolles is also said to be dismissed, and with Macdonald, Le Courbe, and eighty-four others, his Majesty's subjects, whose names appeared under the remonstrance, or petition, (as some call it) exiled to different departments of this country, where they are to expect their sovereign's farther determination, and in the mean time remain under the inspection and responsibility of his constituted authorities and commissaries of police.

As it is as dangerous to inquire as to converse on this and other subjects, which the mysterious policy of our government condemns to silence or oblivion, I have not been able to gather any more or better information concerning this league, or unconstitutional opposition to the executive power; but as I am intimate with one of the actors, should he have an opportunity, he will certainly write to me at full length, and be very explicit.

LETTER XXXV.

MY LORD,

Paris, August, 1805.

I BELIEVE I have before remarked that, under the govern ment of Buonaparte, causes relatively the most insignificant, have frequently produced effects of the greatest consequence. A ca pricious or whimsical character, swaying with unlimited power, is certainly the most dangerous guardian of the prerogatives of sovereignty, as well as of the rights and liberties of the people That Buonaparte is as vain and fickle as à coquette, as obstinatę as a mule, and equally audacious and unrelenting, every one, who has witnessed his actions, or meditated on his transactions, must be convinced. The least opposition irritates his pride, and he determines and commands in a moment of impatience or vivacity what may cause the misery of millions for ages, and perhaps his own repentance for years.

When Buonaparte was officially informed by his ambassador at Vienna, the young La Rochefoucault, that the emperor of Germany declined being one of his grand officers of the legion of honour, he flew into a rage, and used against this prince the most gross, vulgar, and unbecoming language. I have heard it said, that he went so far as to say, "Well, Francis II. is tired of reigning. I hope to have strength enough to carry a third crown. He who dares refuse to be and continue my equal, shall soon as a vassal think himself honoured with the regard, which as a master I may condescend, from compassion, to bestow on him." Though forty-eight hours had elapsed after this furious sally, before he met with the Austrian ambassador, count Cobentzel, his passion was still so furious that, from his grossness and violence, all the members of the diplomatic corps trembled both for this their respectable member, and for the honour of our nation thus represented.

When the diplomatic audience was over, he said to Talleyrand in a commanding and harsh tone of voice, in the presence of all his aides-de-camp and generals, "Write this afternoon, by an extraordinary courier, to my minister at Genoa, Salicetti, to prepare the Doge and the people for the immediate incorporation of the Ligurian Republic with my empire. Should Austria