I know her sentiments from days of
old. The Count de Vermeuil, ex-governor of the Antilles, whose
judgment as you know is most excellent, has told me more than once
that in Martinique he had often noticed how her fealty to the crown
deepened nearly to distraction; and the protection which she grants
to my faithful subjects who appeal to her, entitles her justly to
the name you give her, 'an angel of goodness.' Let my sentiments be
known to Madame Bonaparte. You will not surprise her, but I flatter
myself that her soul will rejoice to know them." [Footnote:
Thibaudeau, "Histoire de la France, et de Napoleon Bonaparte," vol.
ii., p. 202.]
The Count de Lille was not deceived. Josephine's heart was filled
with joy at this confidence of the "King of France;" she was pleased
that the Marquis de Clermont had fulfilled his wishes, and that he
should with this letter have sent her a present. She read it with a
countenance full of enthusiasm, and with a tremulous voice, to her
daughter Hortense, whom she had educated to be as good a royalist as
herself; and both mother and daughter besieged, with earnest
petitions, with tears and prayers, and every expression of love, the
first consul to realize the hopes of the Count de Lille, and to
recall the exiled prince to his kingdom.
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