The Company were all ashamed, And his indelicacy blamed; His manners were so ungenteel, That each now turn’d upon his heel. England’s Ambassador was bent The Consul’s conduct to resent. He sent a note of all that pass’d From the beginning to the last, Then sought for passports, as advis’d; At this the Consul was surpris’d; But England now was irritated, For in the _Moniteur_ ’twas stated, That she could never, single handed, Contend with France--so he demanded His passports--likewise he averr’d, That war, he to suspense, preferr’d. His lordship’s wish they strove t’ evade, The passports daily were delay’d. Lord Whitworth, soon as they were granted, Set off for London, as he wanted. By way of parenthesis, I may say that Napoleon made loud complaint about the libels published about him in England; and, to show the impartiality of the Government, and their desire to do justice, even at a time when war between the two countries was almost morally certain, a Frenchman, named Jean Peltier, was prosecuted for libelling him, the indictment being ‘That peace existed between N. Bonaparte and our Lord the King; but that M. Peltier, intending to destroy the friendship so existing, and to despoil said Napoleon of his consular dignity, did devise, print, and publish, in the French Language, to the tenor following, &c.’ It is never worth while to go into the words of the libel (which appeared in a periodical called _L’Ambigu_), which is purely political, and which would never be noticed nowadays. I only introduce the episode to shew that the English Government even went out of their way to conciliate Bonaparte, and that the libel, as usual, sprang from French sources. He was unanimously found guilty, and judgment was to have been delivered next term, but, war being renewed, he was never called upon to appear. CHAPTER XXVI. THE _ULTIMATUM_--LORD WHITWORTH LEAVES PARIS--DECLARATION OF WAR--CARICATURES PREVIOUS THERETO--SURRENDER OF HANOVER.