Joseph was well aware how difficult it is for truth to reach the steps of the throne. In his tour through the provinces, he often, on foot, penetrated the crowd which surrounded him, and conversed with any one whose intelligence attracted his attention. He listened to every well-founded complaint, and avowed himself deeply moved in view of the oppression which the people had suffered even from his own agents. But for this personal observation, he would have remained in ignorance of these wrongs which he promptly and vigorously repressed. Joseph was a man of the purest morals, and, as a husband and father, was a model of excellence. While engaged in these labors at Naples, his wife, Julie, who was in delicate health, remained in Paris, occupying the palace of the Luxembourg. They exchanged _daily_ letters. The following extract from one of Joseph's letters, written on the 26th of April, 1807, will give the reader some insight to the nature of this correspondence, and to the heart of Joseph. [Illustration: JOSEPH ON HIS NEAPOLITAN TOUR.] "MY DEAR JULIE,--I have received no letter from you to-day. I pray you not to fail to write to me. I can not but feel anxious when I receive no letter, since your correspondence is otherwise regular. I wrote you yesterday of the rumors which malevolence had set in circulation, but that facts will gradually destroy them. I can give you the positive assurance that you need have no solicitude upon that point. "I have come to pass Sunday here. It is somewhat remarkable that _fete_ days are the seasons which I choose for a little recreation. This shows with what constancy I am employed on other days in the labors of the Cabinet. Moreover, the response to every accusation is the result which has already been attained here. Notes upon the Bank of Naples, which were twenty-five per cent. below par when I came here, are now at par. I have, with my own resources, conducted the war and the siege of Gaeta, which has cost six millions of francs ($1,200,000); I have found the means to support and pay ninety thousand men, for I have, besides sixty thousand land soldiers, thirty thousand men as marines, invalids, pensioners of the ancient army, coast guards, shore gunners; and I have fifteen hundred leagues of coast, all beset, blockaded, and often attacked by the enemy.