All reputations are çoisRenéquickly made on the banks of the Thames and as quickly lost. In 1822, I found that great city immersed in the recollection of Bonaparte; the people had passed from the vilification of "Nick" to a stupid enthusiasm. Memoirs of Bonaparte swarmed; his bust adorned every chimney-piece; his engravings shone in the windows of all the picture-dealers; his colossal statue, by Canova[187], decorated the Duke of Wellington's stair-case. Could they not have consecrated another sanctuary to Mars enchained? This deification seems rather the work of the vanity of a door-porter than of the honour of a warrior. General, you did not defeat Napoleon at Waterloo: you only forced the last link of a destiny already shattered.
After my official presentation to George IV., I saw him several times. The recognition of the Spanish Colonies by England was pretty well decided upon; at least it seemed as though the ships of those independent States were to be received under their own flag in the ports of the British Empire. My dispatch of the 7th of May reports a conversation which I had had with Lord Londonderry, and the ideas of that minister. This dispatch, important for the affairs of that time, would be almost without interest for the reader of to-day. Two things had to be distinguished in the position of the Spanish Colonies with regard to England and France: commercial interests and political interests. I entered into the details of those interests:
"The more I see of the Marquess of Londonderry," I wrote to M. de Montmorency, "the subtler I find him. He is a man full of resource, who never says what he means; one would sometimes be tempted to think him a simple, easy man. In his voice, his laugh, his look, he has something of M. Pozzo di Borgo. He does not exactly inspire one with confidence."
"If Europe is obliged to recognise the _de facto_ governments in America, its whole policy must tend to bring monarchies to life in the New World, instead of these revolutionary republics which will send us their principles together with the products of their soil.
"In reading this dispatch, monsieur le vicomte, you will doubtless, like myself, experience a movement of satisfaction. It is already a great step forward in politics to have forced England to wish to associate herself with us in interests on which she would not have deigned to consult us six months ago. I congratulate myself as a good Frenchman on all that tends to put back our country in the high rank which she should occupy among foreign nations."