than 200,000 men. * It is remarkable, too, that an increase in the time, during which the Channel was required to be clear of British ships, accompanies each increase of the army that was to conquer the country. Thus : the letter says, " six days, " the note, " fifteen days, " and O'Meara, † " two months. " It is doubtful, however, if, at the time that the expedition (all except the fleet which was to cover it) was declared to be ready, there were as many even as 140,000 fighting men in a situation to embark.

Being in the constant habit of perusing, by the aid of interpreters, the contents of the London newspapers, Napoléon must have seen, with a feeling of bitter disappointment, the formidable preparations that were making to resist his army on its landing : those to obstruct the passage of the flotilla, he cared less about, having, as already has appeared, no intention to make the attempt unless his fleets were in the temporary possession of the Channel. Buonaparte was not the first foreigner, who had reckoned too much upon the grumbling character of the English : he did not consider that, although discontented with their government, they were extremely jealous of foreigners. He ought to have known that, in such a case, a third party would experience much the same treatment, as proverbially follows a similar interference in domestic disagreements : the hitherto mutually opposed parties unite, heart and hand, to expel the intruder. The treatment which, at a subsequent period of his life, Napoléon experienced from the English populace, tended, owing to a misconception on his part, to strengthen the opinion he had originally formed of the " canaille" to aid him in conquering their country. There, again, he mistook the character of the people. It was not love for his person, which collected the crowds that flocked from far and near to gain a sight of him : it was curiosity, endemial curiosity, to behold a man who had compelled most monarchs but their own to succumb to him ; who had governed, if not conquered, all Europe, save the little insulated spot in whose power he then was. If they forbore to upbraid or taunt him, it was because he was their prisoner : if they treated him with respect, and even with kindness, it was because they felt some degree of awe in the presence of one who had been so mighty a potentate, and commiserated his fallen greatness.

Intelligence of the battle between Sir Robert Calder and M. Villeneuve reached the French emperor at Boulogne, between the 3d and 9th of August, probably about the 8th ; and on the 11th he became acquainted with the arrival of the combined fleet at Ferrol. Buonaparte's rage was most violent, but it was of short duration. This extraordinary man soon carved out work for his army. The intelligent author of a French work now well

* O'Meara's Napoléon in Exile, vol. i., p. 349.

† Ibid., vol. ii., p. 378.

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