[91] Fouché afterwards remembered, that an individual in his neighbourhood, mayor of a municipality, and whom he himself had employed in matters of police, had one morning intruded rather hastily on him in his study, under pretext of pleading the cause of a distressed tenant; and concluded, that while he was searching for the papers concerning his visitor's ostensible business, Mr. Mayor had an opportunity to glance at the sheets on his scrutoire, where the repetition of V. M. I. and R. M. (intimating your Imperial and Royal Majesty,) betrayed that he was drawing up a memorial to Napoleon, and a word or two of the context explained its purport. [92] It is not unworthy of notice, that the Emperor's mother (Madame Mère, as she was termed) always expressed a presentiment, that the fortunes of her family, splendid as they were, would be altered before her death; and when ridiculed by her children for her frugal disposition, she used to allege she was saving money for them in their distress; and in fact she lived to apply her boards to that purpose.--S. CHAPTER LVI. _Allies on whose assistance Buonaparte might count--Causes which alienated from him the Prince-Royal of Sweden--who signs a Treaty with Russia--Delicate situation of the King of Prussia, whose alliance the Emperor Alexander on that account declines--A Treaty with France dictated to Prussia--Relations between Austria and France--in order to preserve them Buonaparte is obliged to come under an engagement not to revolutionize Poland--His error of policy in neglecting to cultivate the alliance of the Porte--Amount of Buonaparte's Army--Levies for the protection of France in the Emperor's absence--Storming of Ciudad Rodrigo by Lord Wellington--Buonaparte makes overtures of Peace to Lord Castlereagh--The Correspondence broken off--Ultimatum of Russia rejected--Napoleon sets out from Paris, 9th May, 1812--and meets the Sovereigns his allies at Dresden--A last attempt of Napoleon to negotiate with Alexander proves unsuccessful._ The several powers, who might in their different degrees of strength aid or impede the last and most daring of Buonaparte's undertakings, were--Denmark, Saxony, Sweden, and Prussia, in the north of Europe; in the south, Austria, and the Turkish empire. Denmark and Saxony were both devoted to the cause of France; but the former power, who had made over to Napoleon her seamen, had no land troops to spare for his assistance. The few that she had on foot were scarce sufficient to protect her against any enterprise of Sweden or England.