simply to relate that which fell within my knowledge, without trying to
prejudice the opinion of any one.

I cannot close this introduction without a few words as to myself, in
reply to the calumnies which have not spared, even in his retirement, a
man who should have no enemies, if, to be protected from malice, it were
sufficient to have done a little good, and no harm to any one. I am
reproached with having abandoned my master after his fall, and not having
shared his exile. I will show that, if I did not follow the Emperor, it
was because I lacked not the will but the power to do so. God knows that
I do not wish to undervalue the devotion of the faithful servants who
followed the fortunes of the Emperor to the end. However, it is not
improper to say that, however terrible the fall of the Emperor was for
him, the situation (I speak here only of the personal advantages), in the
island of Elba, of those who remained in his service, and who were not
detained in France by an inexorable necessity, was still not without its
advantages; and it was not, therefore, my personal interests which caused
me to leave him. I shall explain hereafter my reasons for quitting his
service.

I shall also give the truth as to the alleged abuse of confidence, of
which, according to others, I was guilty in respect to the Emperor.
A simple statement of the mistake which gave rise to this falsehood,
I trust, will clear me of every suspicion of indelicacy; but if it is
necessary to add other proofs, I could obtain them from those who lived
nearest to the Emperor, and who were in a condition to both know and
understand what passed between us; and lastly, I invoke fifty years of a
blameless life, and I can say: "When I was in a situation to render great
services, I did so; but I never sold them. I could have derived
advantages from the petitions that I made for people, who, in consequence