to the First Consul, upon whom he heaped the most extravagant praises.
Afterwards, addressing Madame Bonaparte, he told her that she was united
to the First Consul by the sacred bonds of a holy alliance. In this
harangue, in which unction was singularly blended with gallantry, surely
it was a departure from ecclesiastical propriety to speak of sacred bonds
and holy alliance when every one knew that those bonds and that alliance
existed only by a civil contract. Perhaps M. de Roquelaure merely had
recourse to what casuists call a pious fraud in order to engage the
married couple to do that which he congratulated them on having already
done. Be this as it may, it is certain that this honeyed language gained
M. de Roquelaure the Consul's favour, and in a short time after he was
appointed to the second class of the Institute.




CHAPTER XXI.

1804.

The Temple--The intrigues of Europe--Prelude to the Continental
system--Bombardment of Granville--My conversation with the First
Consul on the projected invasion of England--Fauche Borel--Moreau
and Pichegru--Fouche's manoeuvres--The Abbe David and Lajolais--
Fouche's visit to St. Cloud--Regnier outwitted by Fouche--
My interview with the First Consul--His indignation at the reports
respecting Hortense--Contradiction of these calumnies--The brothers
Faucher--Their execution--The First Consul's levee--My conversation
with Duroc--Conspiracy of Georges, Moreau, and Pichegru--Moreau
averse to the restoration of the Bourbons--Bouvet de Lozier's