 The French reaction to this flurry of reforms was mixed , however . The very zeal of the program might betoken a renascent nationalism that could work against French interests . The debacle of the Battle of Trafalgar had made it clear that the projected invasion had to be scrapped . The Dutch now began to clamor for economies in the form of the return of the Boulogne flotilla , which annoyed Napoleon , because he still had a use for it . The man who had led that flotilla to Boulogne Carel Hendrik Ver Huell , was now Secretary for the Navy . He had also become a confidant of the emperor , and now engaged in a secret correspondence with Talleyrand and Napoleon . The latter had just concluded the Peace of Pressburg and was busy dividing up Europe in client @-@ kingdoms apportioned to his relatives . He saw a good candidate for such a position in the Netherlands in his brother Louis Bonaparte . 
