At the moment when I quitted Spain for Marseilles, the Duchess confided
to me two letters which I was to forward in safety to their addresses.
One was destined for the Empress-mother of Russia, the other for the
Empress of Austria.

Scarcely had I arrived at Algiers, when I mentioned these two letters to
M. Dubois Thainville, and begged him to send them to France by the first
opportunity. "I shall do nothing of the sort," he at once answered me.
"Do you know that you have behaved in this affair like a young
inexperienced man, or, to speak out, like a blunderer? I am surprised
that you did not comprehend that the Emperor, with his pettish spirit,
might take this much amiss, and consider you, according to the contents
of the two letters, as the promoter of an intrigue in favour of the
exiled family of the Bourbons." Thus the paternal advice of the French
Consul taught me that in all that regards politics, however nearly or
remotely, one cannot give himself up without danger to the dictates of
the heart and the reason.

I enclosed my two letters in an envelope bearing the address of a
trustworthy person, and gave them into the hands of a corsair, who,
after touching at Algiers, would proceed to France. I have never known
whether they reached their destination.

The reigning Dey, successor to the beheaded Dey, had formerly filled the
humble office of "_épileur_"[5] of dead bodies in the mosques. He
governed the Regency with much gentleness, occupying himself with
little but his harem. This disgusted those who had raised him to this
eminent post, and they resolved upon getting rid of him. We became aware
of the danger which menaced him, by seeing the courts and vestibules of
the consular house full, according to the custom under such