[521] Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 337.
[522] "The choice of this residence was a stroke of policy. It was there that the King of France was accustomed to be seen; circumstances connected with that monarchy were there presented to every eye; and the very influence of the walls on the minds of spectators was, if we may say so, sufficient for the restoration of regal power."—Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 256.
"French Republic—Sovereignty of the People—Liberty—Equality.
"Buonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, to his Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland.
"Paris, 5th Nivose, 8th year of the Republic,
(25th Dec. 1799.)
"Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy the first magistracy of the Republic, I think it proper, on entering into office, to make a direct communication of it to your Majesty. The war, which for eight years has ravaged the four quarters of the world, must it be eternal? Are there no means of coming to an understanding? How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, powerful and strong beyond what their safety and independence require, sacrifice to ideas of vain greatness the benefits of commerce, internal prosperity, and the happiness of families? How is it that they do not feel that peace is the first necessity as well as the first glory? These sentiments cannot be foreign to the heart of your Majesty, who reign over a free nation, and with the sole view of rendering it happy. Your Majesty will only see, in this overture, my sincere desire to contribute efficaciously, for the second time, to a general pacification, by a proceeding prompt, entirely confidential, and disengaged from those forms which, necessary perhaps to disguise the dependence of weak States, prove only in the case of the strong the mutual desire of deceiving each other. France and England, by the abuse of their strength, may still, for a long time, for the misfortune of all nations, retard the period of their being exhausted. But I will venture to say, the fate of all civilized nations is attached to the termination of a war which involves the whole world.
"Buonaparte."
[524] See Moniteur, 23 Pluviose, 10th February 1800; and Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 194.
[525] Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 182; Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 16, 24.