Note 4 — MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE, EXILE, AND CONVERSATIONS, OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. (continued 2)

It is certainly an inherent weakness in our nature to deceive ourselves with respect to the sentiments that are entertained of us by others. At Coblentz, where we threw away so much money, where so many amiable and brilliant young men, more to be dreaded, no doubt, from an excess than a want of education, filled every house and visited every family, it was natural to believe that we should be beloved, and accordingly we thought ourselves adored. Well! at the time of my exile at the Cape of Good Hope, I was placed by a singular chance under the guard of an inhabitant of Coblentz, who had witnessed the brilliant moments of our emigration. I felt great pleasure in renewing the subject with him. We could not have any secrets on that head to conceal from one another; twenty-five years had elapsed. Well, then, “you were not absolutely hated,” said he, “but our real affection was reserved for your adversaries, for their cause was ours. Liberty had slipped in among us through you. There, in the midst of you, even before your eyes, we had formed clubs, and God knows how often we laughed in them at your expense, &c.” And it happened to him more than once, he assured me, when mingled with the crowd, which resounded with acclamations as we passed, to shout with a considerable number of his comrades, “Long live the French Princes, and may they drink a little in the Rhine! You spoke of the reception we gave you,” said he, “it was that which we gave to Custine, which you should have seen! There you would have had an opportunity of appreciating our real sentiments. We ran with enthusiasm to meet him: we crowned his soldiers; a great number of us enlisted in his army, and several of them became generals. As for me, I missed the opportunity of making my fortune.”