At his grand audience here, even after the army, of England had moved towards Germany, when the die was cast, and his mind should, therefore, have been made up, he was almost insupportable.  The low bows, and the still humbler expressions of the Prussian Ambassador, the Marquis da Lucchesini, were hardly noticed; and the Saxon Ambassador, Count von Buneau, was addressed in a language that no well-bred master ever uses in speaking to a menial servant.  He did not cast a look, or utter a word, that was not an insult to the audience and a disgrace to his rank.  I never before saw him vent his rage and disappointment so indiscriminately.  We were, indeed (if I may use the term), humbled and trampled upon en masse.  Some he put out of countenance by staring angrily at them; others he shocked by his hoarse voice and harsh words; and all—­all of us—­were afraid, in our turn, of experiencing something worse than our neighbours.  I observed more than one Minister, and more than one general, change colour, and even perspire, at His Majesty’s approach.

I believe the members of the foreign diplomatic corps here will all agree with me that, at a future congress, the restoration of the ancient and becoming etiquette of the Kings of France would be as desirable a point to demand from the Emperor of the French as the restoration of the balance of power.

Before his army of England quitted its old quarters on the coast, the officers and men often felt the effects of his ungovernable temper.  When several regiments of grenadiers, of the division of Oudinot, were defiling before him on the 25th of last month, he frequently and severely, though without cause, reprobated their manner of marching, and once rode up to Captain Fournois, pushed him forwards with the point of a small cane, calling out, “Sacre Dieu!  Advance; you walk like a turkey.”  In the first moment of indignation, the captain, striking at the cane with his sword, made a push, or a gesture, as if threatening the person of Bonaparte, who called out to his aide-de-camp, Savary: 

“Disarm the villain, and arrest him!”

“It is unnecessary,” the captain replied, “I have served a tyrant, and merit my fate!” So saying, he passed his sword through his heart.

His whole company stopped instantly, as at a word of command, and a general murmur was heard.

“Lay down your arms, and march out of the file instantly,” commanded Bonaparte, “or you shall be cut down for your mutiny by my guides.”

They hesitated for a moment, but the guides advancing to surround them, they obeyed, and were disarmed.  On the following afternoon, by a special military commission, each tenth man was condemned to be shot; but Bonaparte pardoned them upon condition of serving for life in the colonies; and the whole company was ordered to the colonial depots.  The widow and five children of Captain Fournois the next morning threw themselves at the Emperor’s feet, presenting a petition, in which they stated that the pay of the captain had been their only support.