Star.
London, England, 1831-07-28 00:00:00

No. 13,847.

LEOPOLD, KING OF THE BELGIANS.
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, Part 28,published AUGUST let, will contain a Por-
trait and Memoir of LEOPOLD THE FIRST, engraved by J. Titomsoit, from the Original
Painting by Sir THOMAS LAWRANCK, at Marlborough-House.—The Part also contains Portraits
of Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE and Admiral Lord HOWE.
" Thome who wish to perms themselves of a series of Portraits of the illustrious characters whose mimes see distill.
subbed in the political or the scientific records of our country—who have raised its dignity and improved its intellectual
character--may have that wish abundantly gratified by adding this very superior work to their respective libraries. The
Portraits are truly splendid, each embodying in itself the very spirit of the original paintings, of which they form such
faithful copies."-HTILALD.
London : Fish ER. Sow, and Co. Newgate-street.
—rams
tatting to the Count de Suriilliers,' M.-de Bour-
rienne bad been, for years, in the habit of re-
counting this sublime scene as it really occurred,
and of boasting of the courage he displayed in
approximating so closely to Napoleon. Nay,
more ;—being one day in the cabinet of Monsieur
de B. and standing before a sketch of the fine pic-
ture of the Pestifiris, in which Bonaparte is re-
presented in the act of touching a plague-patient,
he complained of the forgetfulness of the painter in
having neglected to place him by the side of the
General in Chief.
In vol. 3, page 50, M. de Bourienne makes
Bernadotte say to Napoleon, " Your brothers are
the principal founders of it (the Manage) ; and,
nevertheless, you accuse me of favouring that club;
you well know that your friend Salicetti, and the
one amongst your brothers who is his confidant,
make themselves remarked among the directors of
that club." Upon which the Count do Survilliers
thus remarks :—" It is not true that Joseph or
Lucien were members of this society (the Manege.)
The author puts into Bernadotte's mouth conversa-
tions which he never held ; in general, all the
speeches of Bernadotte are out of the line of truth.
Finally, Bernadotte is still alive ; he will appreciate
land judge them."
He kills General Vandannue under the walls of

6:ovations upon the At=loity qj Bourrinuses
MOOS of Napoleon. By BARRY K. O'Maaaa, Eau•
formerly Swarm in Ordinary to the Emperor Na-

wroison,it St. Helena.-Is. 6d.

These observations, says the Author, are prin-
cipally selected from others which have been re-
cently published in Paris upon the earlier editions
of the above work, by such of the cotemporaries of
Napoleon, as from their personal, or otherwise in-,,

timate knowledge of the details of his history, are

eminently qualified to disprove the misrepresenta-
tions of M. de Bourrienne, and convince the public
of his false pretensions to the reputation of an au-
thentic historian.

The first opinion which I formed of the above
work, and frequently gave to enquiries made by
gentleman in this country, was, that I considered
it a confused mixture of truth and falsehood, (the
latter greatly preponderating,) but in which, both
were so promiscuously blended together, as to ren-
der it difficult for the generality of English readers
to separate the one from the other. Nor does it
appear that my opinion was erroneous ; for, from
the information 1 received during a few weeks re-
sidence in Paris, in December last, 1 was fully con.'
winced of its being a book-making speculation,
auspicated by the legitimates, and " got up" for,
the united purposes of profit and malignity.
The memoirs of M. de Bourrienne have been
proved, by incontrovertible evidence, to contain
innumerable misrepresentations, either concocted
through deliberate malice, or (what is equally
probable) through absolute ignorance of transac-
tions, many of which he pretends to have per-
sonally witnessed : that they teem with various
falsifications and fabulous conversations, in order
to substantiate the assertions of their author, and
that they are altogether so replete with contradic-
tions and anachronisms, as to induce a belief, that
he merely got together a few notes, documents,
and recollections, for a well known manufactory
of memoirs in Paris, the proprietors of which are
partly booksellers, and partly literary men of all
work, who are ever on the alert to contract with
any one having had opportunities of being near
the person of Napoleon, requiring, however, no
more, than permission to use his name as an au-
thority for a mass of anecdotal matter, which
they undertake to supply from their own manu-
factory.
It appears that M. de Bourrienne was appointed
private secretary to Napoleon, in the year 1796,
in which capacity he remained until the end of the
year 1802, when he was dismissed by his master
on account of his stock jobbing transactions, ac-
cording to his own showing, though others have
assigned peculation as the cause of his dismissal.
" It is well known," says Count Boulay de la
Meurthe, " that Napoleon had great repugnance
to change either his ministers or his agents. He
never disgraced any person except at the last ex-
tremity, and for the gravest reasons, &c. ' " Now
it is notorious that Napoleon, after having hesitated
for a long time, withdrew his confidence from M. de
Bourrienne, and dismissed him from his Cabinet.
He was in some measure forced to do so by the pub-
lic voice, and in older not to appear to be his
accomplice: Bourrienne did every thing to avert
the blow; he wept, and rolled about the floor ; but
in vain ; out he must go, and quit the Cabinet: he
had recourse to every species of supplication and
protestation of devotedness; but on this point Na-
poleon remained inexorable." " Nevertheless the
Emperor," continues the Count, " having pre-
served some little interest for him, employed him
on a mission to Hamburgh, which circumstances
rendered important, where he remained, until, in
consequence of numerous complaints having been
made against him, Napoleon instituted an enquiry
into his conduct; and on the report of one of the
first functionaries of the State, aided by documen-
tary evidence, condemned him to refund two mil-
lions of francs; which, however, he never did."
" It will readily be believed, adds the Count, " that
all this filled his heart 1% ith hatred and revenge, of
which, momover, proofs arc well known."
In vol. ii. page 211, M. de Bourrienne reports 'I
a conversation wherein Junot is made to impeach
the chastity of Josephine, and which, according to,
bim, took place at Alassoudiah between the Gene-1
ral in Chief, and Junot. By a letter from the
Commissary in Chief, d'A tire, to General Bona-
parte, dated 7th Ventose, announcing the arrival
at Gaza, of two convoys, commanded by Generals
Grezieu and Junot; by a letter from the same, to
the Commissary at War, Ludieres, at Salahieh,
reporting a complaint made by Junot on his arrival;
and also by the registry of General Berthier, at
tha War 011 ice, it is proved that Junin did not ar-
rive at Massoudiali, until several days after Bona-
parte had left it. It is impossible, therefore, that
the defamatory conversation, relative to Alatlame
Bonaparte, could have taken place, as M. de
Bourrienne has reported it.
M. de Bourrienne affirms, that he accompanied
Bonaparte on a visit to the hospital, who passed
rapidly through the rooms without touching one of
the pest-patients. Yet the contrary has been
proved by numbers of documents ; amongst which
are the recital of Desgenettes, the Chief Physician
to the Army in the East, and the report of Gene-
ral Andreossy to the Institute of France. Ac-

Hamburgh, though the same general was in OX.•
stence but a few months ago. He makes General
Bertrand construct the bridges at Haarbourg, who,
at the period of which he speaks, had the command
of the fourth corps. After Tilsit, he sets General
Guilleminot and Mustapha Bairacter together by
the ems ; though Mustapha bad been deprived of
power, and of life, a long time before. At Ma-
rengo, he kills General Boudet ; though that Ge-
aeral had subsequently a command at St. Domingo,
sod at Wagram. He attributes to Clarke the
functions which were assigned to Berthier ; and
makes one person both Minister of War, and Go-
vernor of Berlin, at the same time. " These
gross errors," says one of the contributors to the
refutation, " sees 10 prove that Bourrienne is in-
nocent of the work that bears his name."
In vol. 3, page 286, M. de Bourrienne accuses
Murat of cowardice before the enemy : (Murat a
Coward !H) According to Bourrienne, Bona-
parte had left General Miollis with only four
thousand men before Mantua, with orders to op-
pose the sorties made by Wurmser, whom he had
compelled to take refuge there, together with his
troops, whose number amounted to twenty thousand.
He adds, that Murat, having been ordered to head
a charge againstWurmser, was afraid to do it; and,
in his trepidation, pretended to be wounded ; and
that, in consequence of his poltroonery, Murat
was disgraced by the General in Chief, and placed
in Reille's division. All this, however, is contra-
dicted by General Belliard, who shows—first, that
Wurmser never was driven into Mantua, with
twenty-eight thousand men; next, that Miollis
was not ordered to stop his sorties with four thou-
. sand men, because such a number were incompe-
tent to the duty; and, thirdly, that Miollis, who
was then only a Brigadier General, did not com-
mand the blockade at Mantua ; but that it was
consecutively entrusted to Serrorier, Sahagnet,
Kilmaire, and, finally, to Serrurier again, to whom
the fortress surrendered. The same General
shows, also, that Reille, upon whom the veracious
Ex-Secretary has conferred the rank of General,
was, at this time, simply a Captain, and attached
to the Staff of Massena. After this, it is almost
needless to state, that the fear attributed to Murat
is an invention.
" The Secretary," says General Belliard, " who
is as well acquainted with geography, as he is with
the period which we are retracing, transforms a
wretched village, where Werneck was overtaken,
into a grand fortress; and as if this were not
enough, he imagines that Vienna was situated upon
the left bank of the Danube ; and that it would be
necessary to cross the river in order to take the
city." " Such ignorance of topography," conti-
nues the General, " would appear incredible : one
would suppose that, previous to writing, a historian,
a Minister of State, would at least cast his eyes
over the map.
M. de Bourrienne has given two versions of the
Revolution of the 18th of Brumaire: the one pro-
fessing to be from his own notes, and the other
from information derived from M. Collot. Both
are at variance with each other, and both are false,
according to Count Boulay de la Meurthe, who, for
some years, has been occupied in writing his own
' memoirs. The Count adds, moreover, that one of
these versions has been principally taken without
any acknowledgment from the historical notes in-
serted in the appendix to the " Life of Napoleon,
by the romancer Walter Scott," attributed by some
to Bernadotte ; but which, in the opinion of the
Count, " must be regarded as the work of some
fiiend, who is so indiscreet, so badly advised, and
such a liar, that he might well pass for an enemy to
the glory of that General." He adds, also, " that
every thing reported in the above notes of Moreau
is false."
M. de Bourienne, in giving a history of what
passed at the meeting of the Ancients, on the
19th of Brumaire, expresses himself as follows :
" Bonaparte had the President on the right; he
could not see him quite in front. I found myself
on the General's right ; our clothes touched ;
l3erthier was on his left. All the harangues com-