[Translation.], April 22, 1866.

[Translation.]

“To Commander Seigland,

“Aide-de-camp of General Douay:

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“You tell me that the general was displeased because his excellency did not let the base calumnies against him go unnoticed. It is certain that the general’s reputation would not have suffered more by it in the eyes of the Emperor than in the opinion of the marshal.

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“It would be hard to discover the origin of the information, and the marshal says it would be giving too much importance to the report to investigate its source. We heard it through the chief of police, who is not to be found, but who thought it well to tell us of it before communicating it to the Emperor’s cabinet. That is what I had to communicate. Now I must tell you confidentially something to be known only entre nous: I don’t admire the young people you have around you. They are all agreeable, even those without epaulets, and I should not dislike them; but they are too young, and youth cannot have sense. They think their general must coincide with them in opinion, and they write to France stories that are perfectly miraculous. I know General Douay’s upright and loyal character too well to attribute to him the nonsense that is circulated in the French capital, and which comes back to me in the strangest manner possible.