Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1853 edition. Excerpt: ... liberty enjoyed in England, Castlereagh observed, in a contemptuous manner, that it was not the thing most to be esteemed in your country, that it was an usage which they were obliged to put up with; but had become an abuse, and would not answer for other countries." I ventured to express my surprise to Napoleon that the empress Marie Louise had not made some exertion in his behalf. " I believe," replied the emperor, " that Marie Louise is just as much a state prisoner as I am myself, except that more attention is paid to decorum in the restraints imposed upon her. I have always had occasion to praise the conduct of my good Louise, and I believe that it is totally out of her power to assist me; moreover, she is young and timorous. It was, perhaps, a misfortune to me that I had not married a sister of the emperor Alexander, as proposed to me by Alexander himself at Erfurth. But there were inconveniences in that union, arising from her religion. I did not like to allow a Russian priest to be the confessor of my wife, as I considered that he would have been a spy in the Thuilleries for Alexander. It has been said, that my union with Marie Louise was made a stipulation in the treaty of peace with Austria, which is not true. I should have spurned the idea. It was first proposed by the emperor Francis himself, and to Mettenricb, by Narbonne." " Of all the ambassadors I ever employed," added Napoleon, " Narbonne* was the ablest. He had beaucoup d'esprit, and his moral character was unexceptionable. While he was at Vienna, France was never duped by Metternich as she had been before. He penetrated Metternich's projects in a few days. Had such a man as Narbonne been sent to Alexander in 1812, it is probable that peace would have been made. Russia...
