quests directly to your majesty, without employing the medium of Velasquez. I was likewise informed that the licentiate Figuerota, as well as your majesty's other judges in Cuba, having discovered the designs of Velasquez, and foreseeing the public injury that would result from such conduct, had deputed one of their number, Lucas Velasquez d' Ayllon to remonstrate with him in their name, and prohibit him from going on; that d' Ayllon executed his commission just before the embarkation of the troops, but that notwithstanding his remonstrances and declaration that your majesty would not fail to be greatly irritated at such proceedings, he persisted in his plan, and the troops were sent over to the continent, whither d' Ayllon accompanied them in order to oppose their pernicious schemes to the utmost of his power.

On receiving this information I wrote to Narvaez by his emissary the priest, that I had heard with pleasure that the army which had landed on the continent was under his command, both on account of our former friendship, and from my being convinced of the sincerity of his wishes to support the interest of our mutual sovereign; that I was a little surprised however, that he had not written to me and informed me of his arrival; but had detained my messengers, and had sent emissaries to seduce my soldiers and excite a spirit of mutiny amongst them, in order to gain them over to his party, as if we were of different religions, or under the dominion of different masters; that I begged of him hereafter to alter his conduct and let me know the reason of his coming; that I had been told he had assumed the title of captain general and lieutenant of Don Diego Velasquez, governor of the country, a claim which I could never acknowledge, and as such that he had proceeded to appoint alcaydes and magistrates for particular places, and caused justice to be administered in his name; all which was contrary to law and to the true interests of our sovereign; and that he had in addition established a council without whose consent no one, though holding the emperor's commission, could exercise the duties of any office; that, nevertheless, if he was actually in possession of such powers, and would communicate them to me, and to the council of Vera Cruz, we would obey them as the letters and commission of our sovereign master. As for myself I was then in Mexico, where I held Montezuma prisoner, and had in my charge effects of immense value, belonging to our sovereign, myself, and my companions, and that I could not leave that city without hazarding an insurrection, which would not only terminate in the loss of what wealth I had collected, but in that of the capital and the empire. I accompanied this with a letter to the licentiate Ayllon, but I learned, on the return of my messenger, that Narvaez had arrested him, and sent him back to Cuba, with two of the ships.

The day on which I sent my letters to Narvaez, a messenger arrived from Vera-Cruz, who informed me that the Indians had

revolted, and submitted to Narvaez. The Zempoullans in a particular manner had distinguished themselves on this occasion; they all refused to serve, as they had hitherto done, either in the city, or in the fort; for Narvaez had represented me to them as a villain and a traitor, whom he had come thither for the express purpose of making a prisoner and compelling to quit the country; telling them that he had with him a great many troops, cannon and horses; that I had but few, and that in joining him, they would be on the strongest side. The messenger added that Narvaez had fixed his quarters at Zempoulla, and that from the proximity of that place to Vera-Cruz, the garrison of the latter, having no longer any doubts as to his hostile intentions, in order to avoid a battle, and secure themselves from the treachery of the Indians, had withdrawn to a height where they had resolved to remain with a friendly cacique until the arrival of farther orders. The prejudicial effects which this revolt in favour of Narvaez might produce on your majesty's service, determined me to march against him, with the intention of stopping him if possible, and by that means to restrain and pacify the Indians. I left my post in Mexico, well fortified, furnished with provisions, water and ammunition, and defended by five hundred men, and began my march with the remainder of my people, who amounted to about seventy, having with me several caciques attached to Montezuma, in whose care I left my soldiers and the precious effects which he had given me; at the same time I recommended to him strict obedience to your majesty, assuring him that he would soon receive your thanks for the services which he had rendered, and that in the mean time I would go and discover the intentions of those men who had lately landed.

Montezuma promised to provide every thing necessary for my men, and to take the utmost care of the things which I had entrusted to him, assuring me that those of his subjects who accompanied me, would conduct me the whole of the way through his territories where I should want for nothing. And should I meet with enemies, he begged me to inform him, as he would immediately send troops to assist me in fighting them and driving them from the country.

I thanked him for his offers, observing that your majesty would be highly pleased with his friendly manifestations, and made presents on parting to himself, his son, and many of his nobles who were present.

At Cholula I was joined by captain Juan Velasquez and his soldiers who had come thither from Quacucalco. Some of the soldiers who were sick I sent back to Mexico, and with the others continued my march. Fifteen leagues from Cholula I met my chaplain returning from St. John's, whither I had sent him. He brought me a letter from Narvaez, informing me that he had instructions from Diego de Velasquez to take the command of the

country in his name; that he had laid the foundations of a city, and appointed alcaydes and governors, and that I must immediately prepare to obey him. The chaplain likewise informed me that Narvaez had sent away the licentiate Ayllon, with the secretary and the alguazil who accompanied him: that he had done all in his power to bribe him, and persuade him to corrupt some of my fellow-soldiers; that he had reviewed the troops, both infantry and cavalry in his presence, before a number of Indians who were with him, and had fired all the cannon, in order to intimidate them, and had asked them how they could defend themselves.

He also informed me that Narvaez had held a correspondence with Montezuma; that he had appointed a cacique, who was a subject of that prince, governor-general of the sea-coast and harbours; that this cacique had been Narvaez' messenger to Montezuma, and the bearer of mutual presents, and that he had sent word by him to that monarch that he had come to make prisoners of me and my followers, in order to leave him and his subjects at liberty, without requiring any gold from them. The truth is that he wished to establish himself as chief in the country, without the permission of any one; seeing that none of my people would acknowledge him for captain general, and that we were not amenable to justice in consequence of the orders of Velasquez; that such were his views was confirmed by his having formed an alliance with the natives, more particularly Montezuma. Reflecting however on the great injury that your majesty's interest would sustain from a contest between your own troops, and regardless of the personal danger which I should incur, for Velasquez had given orders to hang me and the most faithful of my adherents, I resolved to approach nearer to Narvaez, in order to convince him of the injury that would arise to the service of our royal master if he should persist in his designs. At fifteen leagues from Zempoulla, where Narvaez was encamped, I met the priest, by whom I had written to d'Ayllon, accompanied by another, and an inhabitant of Cuba, called Andrew Duero, who had come with Narvaez. They brought me a message from him, in reply to my letter, requiring me to obey him, to give up to him the command, and acknowledge him as captain general, for that he had with him a force far superior to mine, and that independently of the Spaniards in his army most of the natives of the country were in his interest. He offered me, provided I would surrender my conquests, whatever I might wish; ships and provisions for myself and my companions, and that I might carry off all that I desired; as he had authority from Velasquez to enter into such an agreement with me, in conjunction with these messengers.

I replied that I had seen no instructions of the emperor ordering me to resign the command; that if he had any to show me and the council of Vera-Cruz, according to the custom of Spain, I was ready to obey them; that without this prerequisite, no motives

of interest, nor any proposition should induce me to do what, he desired; but on the contrary, that I and my companions, as faithful subjects of your majesty, would defend till death the provinces which we had subdued and tranquilized. I was inflexible in all my answers to the proposals made me by the deputies of Narvaez: I agreed with them that I would see him, mutual assurances of safety being given, accompanied by ten persons each, and sent him my written engagement in exchange for his to me. I was, however, informed of his designs in sufficient time to escape the greatest danger that I had ever experienced, as Narvaez had selected two of those who were to accompany him to assassinate me, whilst the other eight, were to keep my ten companions employed; for he said that if I was but out of the way, the dispute would soon be settled. It would have been so indeed most effectually, if God, who alone thwarts such plots, had not given me information of it through one of those who were to be concerned in the treachery. at the same time that I received Narvaez' letter of safe conduct.

I then refused to meet him, and let the traitor know that I was acquainted with his base intentions, and summoned him by injunctions and requisitions to make known to me the instructions of my sovereign, ordering him under severe penalties, not to assume the title of captain general, or to intermeddle with the administration of justice, on any pretence whatever. At the same time I forbade all those belonging to his suite, to obey him in that capacity, and summoned them to appear before me at a stated time, to receive my orders as the representative of the emperor, assuring them that I would otherwise proceed against them as traitors and rebels, who had not only revolted from their sovereign, but had taken possession of his territories to give them to those who had no right to them, and, in fine, that I would march against them and give them battle.

Narvaez, instead of replying, arrested my messengers, and the Indians who were with them, and on my sending others to inquire for them, he again made a display of his troops and artillery, as he had done before, uttering severe threats against us if we did not abandon Mexico.

Perceiving that I could obtain nothing from Narvaez; that I could neither wholly obviate the mischief, nor prevent the revolt of the Indians, who threatened to proceed to the greatest extremities, I recommended myself to the protection of God, contemned all hazards, and felt that nothing was more glorious for myself and companions than to die in defence of our conquest, and in making our last efforts to preserve it for my king against usurpers.

In consequence of this determination I ordered Gonsalvo de Sandoval my alguazil major, to march with a detachment of eighty men against Narvaez, whilst I supported him with the hundred and seventy that were left.

(To be continued.)

301

THE HISTORY OF MADEMOISELLE D

A SPY IN THE SERVICE OF BONAPARTE. PARIS, 1815. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

ONE of the greatest faults committed by Napoleon, on his accession to the throne, was that of doubting the stability of his reign, and in having pursued exactly the contrary measures to those which were necessary for the consolidation of his newlyacquired power. It must be confessed that the rigorous measures of despotism, and its perfidious stratagems, were better suited to his singular character, than a course of gentleness and clemency.

He ought however to have foreseen that by the usurpation of a throne to which he had no lawful pretensions, he would inevitably become the marked object of censure to various political parties at the head of affairs in the state; that he would have to encounter every species of attack, of hatred, calumny, envy and malice that the shafts of satire would be levelled at his head-and that all his power and grandeur would not be sufficient to protect him from the witty sarcasms of a people, accustomed not to spare even their legitimate sovereigns.

While only consul, he evinced the greatest contempt for anonymous slander, and clandestine threats; why did he not pursue the same magnanimous conduct on the throne? He would thus have left the harmless indulgence of their tongues and pens to his detractors. But no-a jealous and suspicious despot-he wished to shackle private opinion, to know all secrets, and thus to render one half of his subjects spies upon the other. Nothing but a genius truly diabolical could have framed a system of police so hideous and so wicked as that which Bonaparte contrived.

Even the profligate principles of Machiavel, shrink into nothingness, when contrasted with the institution of The Imperial Espionage. This monster of iniquity, though concealed from vulgar sight, employed millions of invisible arms in its service-It was busily employed night and day in procuring the confidential and unsuspecting disclosures of friendship, the unrestrained deliberations of familiar intercourse, the lively sallies of unguarded humour, and the private conversations of friends and relations. It in