The story is told in epistolary style, as a series of reports, statements and memoranda by various government, army and police officials, and inn servants, stating what they know of the matter.
Napoleon Bonaparte is a colonel in the French Army who is considered a brilliant tactician and is completely loyal to the Bourbon Monarchy.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord has remained in ecclesiastical orders and risen to become a Catholic Cardinal as well as Louis XVI's Chief Minister.
Moreover, Thomas Jefferson - the author of the American rebels' Declaration of Philadelphia - fled to Havana and eventually died in the Principality of Liechtenstein several years prior to 1809, while James Madison is in exile in Switzerland.
In the final line of the story, the British Minister is revealed to be Sir Arthur Wellesley - known in our reality as the Duke of Wellington.