respecting the education which ought to be given youth. Though the sworn
enemy of everything like liberty, Bonaparte had at first conceived a vast
system of education, comprising above all the study of history, and those
positive sciences, such as geology and astronomy, which give the utmost
degree of development to the human mind. The Sovereign, however, shrunk
from the first ideas of the man of genius, and his university, confided
to the elegant suppleness of M. de Fontaines, was merely a school capable
of producing educated subjects but not enlightened men.

Before taking complete possession of Rome, and making it the second city
of the Empire, the vaunted moderation of Bonaparte was confined to
dismembering from it the legations of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata, and
Camerino, which were divided into three departments; and added to the
Kingdom of Italy. The patience of the Holy See could no longer hold out
against this act of violence, and Cardinal Caprara, who had remained in
Paris since the coronation, at last left that capital. Shortly
afterwards the Grand Duchies of Parma and Piacenza were united to the
French Empire, and annexed to the government of the departments beyond
the Alps. These transactions were coincident with the events in Spain
and Bayonne before mentioned.

After the snare laid at Bayonne the Emperor entered Paris on the 14th of
August, the eve of his birthday. Scarcely had he arrived in the capital
when he experienced fresh anxiety in consequence of the conduct of
Russia, which, as I have stated, had declared open war with Sweden, and
did not conceal the intention of seizing Finland. But Bonaparte,
desirous of actively carrying on the war in Spain, felt the necessity of
removing his troops from Prussia to the Pyrenees. He then hastened the
interview at Erfurt, where the two Emperors of France and Russia had
agreed to meet. He hoped that this interview would insure the