Note 33 — Chapter III

"I have called you around me to do good; you have done ill. You have among you persons devoted to England, who correspond with the Prince Regent, by means of the Advocate Deseze. Eleven-twelfths of you are good; the rest are factious. Return to your departments;—I shall have my eye on you. I am one whom men may kill, but whom they cannot dishonour. Who is he among you who could support the load of government. It has crushed the Constituent Assembly, which dictated laws to a weak king. The Fauxbourg St Antoine would have assisted me, but it would soon have abandoned you. What are become of the Jacobins, the Girondins, the Vergniaus, the Guadets, and so many others? They are dead. You have sought to bespatter me in the eyes of France. This is a heinous crime;—besides, what is the throne? Four pieces of gilded wood covered with velvet. I had pointed out to you a Secret Committee; it is there that you should have established your griefs. It was in the family that our dirty linen should have been washed. I have a title; you have none. What are you in the Constitution? Nothing. You have no authority. The Throne is the Constitution. Every thing is in the throne, and in me. I repeat it to you, you have among you factious persons. Mr Lainè is a wicked man; the rest are factious. I know them, and I shall pursue them. I ask you, Was it while the enemy were among us that you ought to have done such things? Nature has endowed me with great courage, it can resist every thing. Much has it cost my pride, but I have sacrificed it. But I am above your miserable declamations. I had need of consolation,—and you have dishonoured me. But no; my victories crush your complaints. I am one of those who triumph or who die. Return to your departments.