Note 60 — Part IV. FIRST CONSULATE.

M. Thiers gives the account of such a scene as we have just described, but fixes it in 1809; nothing is omitted, not even the position of M. de Talleyrand and his hat; and in this account M. Thiers makes Napoleon accuse Talleyrand of the murder of the Duc d’Enghien.

I cannot but believe that M. Thiers’s authority has been incorrect. Count Molé could not be mistaken as to dates and facts, for he was present at the scene I have related, and stated to me all the details, as I have given them, without touching on the Duc d’Enghien, which he certainly would have spoken of had Napoleon himself done so. The Emperor’s reproaches were, according to Count Molé, entirely confined to what he considered were M. de Talleyrand’s intrigues at that particular time—intrigues which were not, however, then further advanced than in clearing away the obstacles which might interfere with his defection, if Napoleon was ultimately defeated.