The Sultan's Daughter rb-7

by Dennis Wheatley

  As the Revolution progressed he had held many important offices; and when the breakaway from Rome was formally executed he became the first Bishop in the new, reformed National Church of France. In January 1792 he had been sent on a diplomatic mission to London. Having always held the opinion that an alliance between France and Britain was essential to the lasting prosperity of both countries he had, while there, strongly pressed for it, but without success. Later in that year, after his return to Paris, the Commissioners of the Convention had gone through the King's papers that had been seized during the sack of the Tuileries and had found two letters written by him, privately advising the King to adopt a policy contrary to the interests of the revolutionaries.

  In consequence he had been denounced as an 'Enemy of the People', and had escaped from Paris only just in time to save his life. In London, where he returned, he was ostracized by the majority of the French emigres, and by a large section of the British aristocracy, because of the part he had played in the Liberal Revolution. So he had moved on to the more sympathetic atmosphere of the newly-created United States.

  However, he still had many powerful friends and acquaintances in France who respected his abilities and, after the fall of Robespierre, they began to work for his return. Among these friends was one of his many mistresses, the clever intriguer Madame de Stael. She had persuaded Barras to allow him to return, and in the previous July she had secured for him the post of Foreign Minister.

  Confronted by this shrewd and again-powerful man, who knew the truth about him, Roger did not lose his nerve. To have shown the least trace of apprehension would have given away the fact that he had something to hide. With a laugh, he gaily paraphrased Shakespeare:

  'The world is but a stage and men play many parts upon it. I am glad you find my uniform becoming. And, if I may say so, it suits me better than yours did when you were a Bishop.'

  Talleyrand raised an eyebrow. ' Indeed! I had no idea you were a church-goer, and so ever saw me in it. May I suggest, though, that your presence here dressed as a French officer requires some explanation? '

  ' It is quite simple,' Roger shrugged. ' As you must be aware, I have spent a great part of my manhood in France, and have become so enamoured of this country that I now regard myself as a Frenchman. I have been wounded more than once in the service of France and my title to this uniform is beyond dispute. When I was in Italy no less a person than the General Bonaparte did me the honour to make me one of his aides-de-camp.'

  ' How prodigious interesting.' Talleyracd gave a slight bow. 'Allow me to congratulate you, my dear fellow, on this signal distinction. I cannot, alas, linger to converse longer with you now, as the General is expecting me. But we must foregather to discuss old times: over breakfast, perhaps, when our enjoyment of one another's company will not be diverted by the presence of others. Let me see. Friday, I think, is the first day I have free. May I have the pleasure of receiving you at nine o'clock? '

  ' You are most kind,' Roger smiled. ' There is nothing I should enjoy more.'

  Exchanging another bow, they parted and Roger went on his way. The brief conversation had gone as well as he could have expected. To all appearances Talleyrand had accepted his explanation, but all the same it was a most delicate situation and he knew that, on the coming Friday, he would have all his work cut out to convince the astute statesman that he had really abandoned for good all his ties with England.

  Yet it was the line he had already decided to take when they did meet, as it was inevitable that they would, and the only line possible.

  It was nearly twelve years since, when he had been assistant secretary to the Marquis de Rochambeau, he had first met Talleyrand. An occasion had arisen when the Marquis had an urgent need to have a long, confidential document copied overnight, and the work was to be done at Talleyrand's house out at Passy. Talleyrand, Roger and the Marquis's senior secretary, the Abb6 d'Heury, had set off together in a coach for Passy, but when near-ing their destination the coach had been held up by footpads. Talleyrand had defied the brigands and an affray had ensued. D'Heury had been shot dead—which had led to Roger's promotion—and a second ball had wounded Roger in the head, rendering him unconscious. When he came to, in bed in Talleyrand's house, he learned that during his delirium he had been raving in English. Since at that time he had been passing himself off as a

  Frenchman only as a matter of convenience, he had freely admitted his real nationality and had given Talleyrand full particulars of himself. Roger felt certain that he would not have forgotten them, so it would have been futile for him to deny now that he was the son of Admiral Sir Christopher Brook.

  However, a strong bond of friendship had long since developed between them. It was Roger who had tricked Danton into giving him the passport which Jiad enabled Talleyrand to escape from Paris when to remain would have cost him his life; so Roger had no fear whatever that his old friend would regard him as an enemy, let alone have him arrested.

  After a few minutes his mind turned to the volte-face in plans that Bonaparte had sprung upon him that morning. The news that there was to be no invasion of England that year, but that instead the conqueror of Italy was pressing the Directory to let him follow in the path of Alexander the Great, must be sent without delay to Mr. Pitt.

  Returning to La Belle Iitoile, he wrote a long despatch and put it into a double envelope. He then had his midday meal and afterwards went out to send off his letter. He was always reluctant to use secret post-offices because, although they were usually in back streets unlikely to be frequented by the sort of people he knew, some risk that he might be recognized or followed from the post-office by the man who ran it, should he have turned double traitor, was unavoidable. In the past he had had to use them rarely, as during the Revolution he had been able to send his despatches by members of Sir Percy Blakeney's League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, and on the last two occasions he had been in Paris he had been employed on special missions which did not call for him to send back regular reports. But in the present circumstances he had no option.

  In a mental index he carried three addresses. One was an old one that he had used before, and two were new ones that he had been given when last in London. But it proved his unlucky day, for the afternoon brought him only frustration. Calling first at the old address, he learned that the forwarding agent there had died shortly before Christmas. At the next address he was told that the man he wanted had left that morning to visit relatives in the country and was not expected back until the end of the week. At the third address a slatternly woman told him that her husband had been carried off by the police a fortnight before.

  Had his news been of great urgency and importance, he would seriously have considered sending a message to Bonaparte by Maitre Blanchard saying that he had met with an accident which would keep him in bed for a few days. He would then have used the time to ride all-out to Dieppe and back, with the certainty that he would be able to get his despatch off by a smuggler there. But a few days' delay could make no material difference to the value of his news; so he resigned himself to awaiting the return of the man who had gone to the country.

  Friday was three days away and, although he reported to Bonaparte each morning, the General-in-Chief still had no use for him. He filled in the time much as he had done during the previous week: riding in the mornings, putting in an hour or two in a fencing school or a pistol gallery in the afternoons and attending the salons in the evenings.

  The denizens of the latter were now largely young ' lncroy-ables', with sickle-moon hats, enormous cravats on either side of which their hair dangled in ' dog-ears' and trousers so tight that they could not sit down without risk of splitting them. Their female opposite numbers had their hair piled high and banded, a la Grecque, or cut short a la Romaine and, having given up both corsets and underclothes, wore skin-tight dresses so revealing as to be near indecent.

  Among these bizarre creatures, with their affected voices and languid manner, Roger sought out the older,
more serious people. From them he built up the store of knowledge he was acquiring about trends in Government policy and learned the latest rumours. Among those current was one to the effect that the Swiss had risen en masse against a body of French troops under General Menard, whom Republicans in Lausanne had asked should be sent to protect them from oppression. Another rumour was that a French Army had entered Rome.

  This last news filled everyone with delight, as the French had a score to settle with the Papacy. Bonaparte had overrun a great part of the Papal States and incorporated them in his Cisalpine Republic, but he had refrained from sending his troops into the Eternal City. His orders from the atheist Directory had been to dethrone the Pope and abolish the Papacy. However, he was well aware that the greater part of the French people were still Christian at heart and had been far too shrewd to make himself responsible for a sacrilege which they would have held against him for as long as he lived. Instead he had menaced the Pope into paying a huge indemnity, blackmailed him into handing over the finest art treasures in the Vatican and had his own eldest brother, Joseph, appointed Ambassador to the Holy See.

  Joseph Bonaparte was a mild man, an able administrator, and one who believed in conciliation. As the representative of the new France that had arisen from the ashes of an ancient absolute Monarchy, it was natural that the Republican Party in Rome should urge him to approve of and support them in violent measures against what they termed ' their tyrants But he steadfastly refused to do so.

  The malcontents had, therefore, decided to provoke a collision with the object of its resulting in French intervention. On December 27th they staged a great demonstration in the Via Medici and were dispersed by the cavalry of the Papal Guard. Next day a similar scene took place outside the French Embassy. General Duphot, a young officer who had served with great distinction under Bonaparte in the north, ran out into the courtyard of the Embassy waving a drawn sword. It was said that he ran out to make peace; but more probably it was to lead the insurgents, and he was shot dead by the Papalini. Joseph Bonaparte had seen no alternative but to demand his passports, after what was regarded as the assassination of his military adviser, and the arrogance of the French had by then reached such a pitch that nothing short of the occupation of Rome would satisfy them for Duphot's untimely death.

  On leaving Italy, Bonaparte had nominated his Chief-of-Staff, General Berthier, as Commander of the French Army occupying the Cisalpine Republic, and Berthier had been ordered to march his Army south for the chastisement of the Eternal City. His progress had been rapid and the news was circulating that he had entered Rome on February 13th without meeting opposition.

  On the Friday morning, after reporting to his General, Roger arrived promptly at nine o'clock at the fine mansion in the Rue du Bac, now occupied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Talleyrand received him like a long-lost brother and ushered him into a small, private dining room, where a breakfast in keeping with wealthy households in that age was served. There was a wide choice of hot dishes, with cold game, Westphalian ham and hothouse fruit to follow. While they ate, a sommelier, wearing his silver chain of office, kept their glasses filled with a Chateau Latour that had lain for twenty years in a bin.

  As soon as they were seated Talleyrand asked for an account of Roger's narrow escape from execution. When it had been given him he murmured, " I find this exceedingly diverting, in view of the fact that the magistrates in Boulogne were entirely right in supposing you to be—well, you will understand what I mean.'

  ' On the contrary,' Roger replied quickly, ' they were grossly wrong in their assumption of both my nationality and my intent.'

  ' You imply that you have taken out naturalization papers. How wise of you. When did you do that? '

  '1 have not done so. Such a step would result in endless fuss. Meanwhile, I would probably be deprived of the right to serve the country of my adoption.'

  ' That, from what I have learned in the past few days, would be a grievous loss. General Bonaparte thinks very highly of you.'

  '1 am most gratified to hear it. I have the greatest admiration for his talents and am devoted to him.'

  ' Yes, he has an amazing capacity for inspiring devotion,' Talleyrand agreed. ' Shortly after I took office he sent Monge— you remember Monge, the scientist and the last Minister of the Navy under our late King—back from Italy with Berthier, to report on his intentions with regard to the future of northern Italy. I was immensely impressed by the way in which they spoke of him. After talking with them I came to the conclusion that here at last was the man France needed to rid us of these incompetent rogues who now govern the country and to make her once again respected among the nations. I then wrote to him, offering him my friendship and my support in any measures he might propose for the betterment of our affairs.'

  '1 know,' smiled Roger. '1 read your letter. I was much amused by the flattery you used to tickle his vanity and win him as your ally. I even recall your most telling phrase: '' In our negotiations the very name of Bonaparte is a help that should smooth over all our difficulties.'"

  For the fraction of a second Talleyrand, arch-diplomatist though he was, disclosed that he was taken aback. ' You . . . saw my letter? Pray, how did that come about? '

  ' It so happens,' Roger replied lightly, ' that I am not only accounted a passable swordsman—an attribute that I share with the majority of Bonaparte's other Staff officers—but I am also capable of drafting a lucid despatch, or making a reliable precis of a long report. Most of these bravos would rather face charging cavalry than undertake such work; so Bonaparte employed me while at Montebello as an assistant to Bourrienne.'

  Talleyrand slowly drank a little of the superb claret, then he murmured, 'Then you are privy to all our secrets? '

  'Certainly, my dear Minister, and I have deserved this confidence. Moreoer, as we have long been allies with no secrets from one another, I will let you into a confidence that I would disclose to no one else. Bonaparte never had any intention of making a descent on England this year, and he is set on leading an Army to win glory in the East.'

  It was Talleyrand's turn to smile. ' I am already aware of that, and gather it has long been his ambition. In fact, I have done my best to smooth his path to its accomplishment. As far back as July I addressed a memorandum to the Institute, pointing out France's need for colonies and urging that, since we had lost nearly all our possessions in the West Indies to the British, we should now turn our eyes east and make a bid for a great part of the decaying Ottoman Empire. I have since made two confidential reports to the Directors, one on January 28th and another as recently as February 15th in which I have pointed to Egypt as the vulnerable spot because, although they are technically subject to the Sultan, the Mameluke Beys who rule there flout his authority and so might be subdued by France with the Sultan's connivance.'

  Roger shook his head. 'To me it sounds a crazy project. Bonaparte might well find himself cut off there, and from lack of supplies have his whole Army founder in the desert sands, as happened with Cambyrer the Persian. As far as I personally am concerned, I'll have no part in it. Should he persuade the Directors to agree to his plan, I shall feign sickness or resort to some other ruse to evade having to accompany him.'

  ' You said but now that you were devoted to him.'

  'Indeed, I am. But not to the point of risking dying of thirst without rendering him any useful service. A year ago I was in Egypt, also in India. That is a major reason for Bonaparte's regard for me. At Montebello, having no campaign to direct, and being bewitched by these countries, he made me give him descriptions of them that lasted for hours. But, having been to Egypt and seen something of its deserts, I've no mind to die in one of them.'

  ' Why then did you further excite his imagination concerning these countries, as you obviously must have done to hold his attention for so long, rather than leave him to pursue the obvious course—a descent on England? '

  ' Because anything would be preferable to that,' Roger replied boldly. '
The chances of getting an Army ashore with its artillery without interference by the British Navy would be negligible. But, that apart, a direct attack upon their homeland would antagonize the English to such a degree that there could never be any reconciliation in our lifetime. And you know as well as I do that nothing short of a peace between France and Britain can bring about a permanent settlement of the upheavals that have disrupted the Continent these past eight years.'

  ' You are right in that,' Talleyrand agreed,' and it has ever been my ambition to bring the two nations to a friendly understanding. But you are wrong in regarding Egypt as a death-trap and supposing that its conquest would not greatly benefit France, as well as gild Bonaparte's laurels. Once there I am confident that he would manage to establish himself; and to seize Egypt for France is no new idea. Over a hundred years ago Libniz proposed it to Louis XIV. In Louis XV's time the Due de Choiseul actually drew up a plan for the sending of an expedition and, only a few years before the Revolution, it was revived by Saint-Priest, who was then our Ambassador in Constantinople. Talking of which, I will let you into a little secret. I have promised Bonaparte to get myself appointed Ambassador to the Porte, with the object of persuading the Sultan to agree to France replacing the Mamelukes in Egypt.'

  'You really believe, then, that Bonaparte could succeed in maintaining himself there? '

  For a moment Talleyrand was silent, then he said thoughtfully, 'Provided the English do not become apprised of our plan and send a Fleet into the Mediterranean, I do not see why he should not. And if he does the project should pay us immense dividends. Unlike France, whose main source of wealth lies in her agriculture, that of Britain is derived from commerce. If we held Malta and both ends of the Mediterranean we could ruin her great trade with the Levant. Moreover, consider Egypt's geographical position. She is readily accessible from Europe and is a bridgehead into both Asia and Africa. As a base for further operations, followed by a great increase in our trade with the East, she is, therefore, invaluable. Expeditions mounted there could sweep north through Syria and overrun the huge territories of the decadent Ottoman Empire, or be despatched against India with equal ease. One can hardly put a limit to what Bonaparte may achieve if the Directory let him have his way.'