Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
Egypt. Napoleon, who, above all generals, was remarkable for the choice
of his fields of battle, did not wish to wait tranquilly until the
Russian army, which was advancing towards Germany, should come to
measure its strength with him in the plains of conquered Prussia; he
resolved to march to meet it, and to reach it before it should arose the
Vistula; but before he left Berlin to explore and conqueror, Poland and
the confines of Russia; he addressed a proclamation to his troops, in
which he stated all that had hitherto been achieved by the French army,
and at the same time announced his future intentions. It was especially
advisable that he should march forward, for, had he waited until the
Russians had passed the Vistula, there could probably have been no
winter campaign, and he would have been obliged either to take up
miserable winter quarters between the Vistula and the Oder, or to
recross the Oder to combat the enemy in Prussia. Napoleon's military
genius and indefatigable activity served him admirably on this occasion,
and the proclamation just alluded to, which was dated from Berlin
before his departure from Charlottenburg; proves that he did not act
fortuitously, as he frequently did, but that his calculations were
well-made.
--[Before leaving the capital of Prussia Bonaparte stole from the
monument, of Frederick the Great his sword and military orders. He
also plundered the galleries of Berlin and Potsdam of their best
pictures and statues, thus continuing the system he had began is
Italy. All those things he sent to Paris as trophies of victory and
glory.--Editor of as 1836 edition.]
A rapid and immense impulse given to great masses of men by the will of
a single individual may produce transient lustre and dazzle the eyes
of the multitude; but when, at a distance from the theatre of glory, we
flee only the melancholy results which have been produced. The genius of
conquest can only be regarded as the genius of destruction. What a sad
picture was often presented to my eyes! I was continually doomed to
hear complaints of the general distress, and to execute orders which
augmented the immense sacrifices already made by the city of Hamburg.
Thus, for example, the Emperor desired me to furnish him with 50,000
cloaks which I immediately did. I felt the importance of such an order
with the approach of winter, and in a climate--the rigour of which
our troops had not yet encountered. I also received orders to seize at
Lübeck (Which town, as I have already stated, had been alternately taken
and retaken try Blücher and Bernadotte) 400,000 lasts of corn,--[A
last weighs 2000 kilogrammes]--and to send them to Magdeburg. This corn
belonged to Russia. Marshal Mortier, too, had seized some timber for
building, which also belonged to Russia; and which was estimated at
1,400,000 francs.
Meanwhile our troops continued to advance with such rapidity that before
the end of November Murat arrived at Warsaw, at the head of the advanced
guard of the Grand Army, of which, he had the command. The Emperor's
headquarters, were then at Posen, and, he received deputations from all
parts soliciting the re-establishment and independence of the Kingdom of
Poland.
Rapp informed me that after receiving the deputation from Warsaw the
Emperor said to him, "I love the Poles; their enthusiastic character
pleases me; I should like to make them independent, but that is a
difficult matter. Austria, Russia, and Prussia have all had a slice
of the cake; when the match is once kindled who knows where, the
conflagration may stop? My first duty, is towards France, which I must
not sacrifice to Poland; we must refer this matter to the sovereign
of all things--Time, he will presently show us what we must do." Had
Sulkowsky lived Napoleon might have recollected what he had said to him
in Egypt, and, in all probability he would have raised up a power, the
dismemberment of which; towards the close of the last century, began to
overturn the political equilibrium which had subsisted in Europe since
the peace of Westphalia in 1648.
It was at the headquarters at Posen that Duroc rejoined the Emperor
after his mission to the King of Prussia. His carriage overturned on the
way, and he had the misfortune to break his collar-bone. All the letters
I received were nothing but a succession of complaints on the bad state
of the roads. Our troops were absolutely fighting in mud, and it was
with extreme difficulty that the artillery and caissons of the army
could be moved along. M. de Talleyrand had been summoned to headquarters
by the Emperor, in the expectation of treating for peace, and I was
informed that his carriage stuck in the mud and he was detained on his
journey for twelve hours. A soldier having asked one of the persons in
M. de Talleyrand's suite who the traveller was, was informed that he was
the Minister for Foreign Affairs. "Ah! bah!" said the soldier, "why does
he come with his diplomacy to such a devil of a country as this?"
The Emperor entered Warsaw on the 1st of January 1807. Most of the
reports which he had received previous to his entrance had concurred in
describing the dissatisfaction of the troops, who for some time had had
to contend with bad roads, bad weather, and all aorta of privations.'
Bonaparte said to the generals who informed him that the enthusiasm of
his troops had been succeeded by dejection and discontent, "Does their
spirit fail them when they come in sight of the enemy?"--"No, Sire."--
"I knew it; my troops are always the same." Then turning to Rapp he
said, "I must rouse them;" and he dictated the following proclamation:
SOLDIERS--It is a year this very hour since you were on the field of
Austerlitz, where the Russian battalions fled in disorder, or
surrendered up their arms to their conquerors. Next day proposals,
of peace were talked of; but they were deceptive. No sooner had the
Russians escaped, by perhaps, blamable generosity from the disasters
of the third coalition than they contrived a fourth. But the ally
on whose tactics they founded their principal hope was no more. His
capital, his fortresses; his magazines; his arsenals, 280 flags, and
700 field-pieces have fallen into our power. The Oder, the Wartha,
the deserts of Poland, and the inclemency of the season have not for
a moment retarded your progress. You have braved all; surmounted
all; every obstacle has fled at your approach. The Russians have in
vain endeavoured to defend the capital of ancient and illustrious
Poland. The French eagle hovers over the Vistula. The brave and
unfortunate Poles, on beholding you, fancied they saw the legions of
Sobieski, returning from their memorable expedition.
Soldiers, we will not lay down our arms until a general peace has
secured the power of our allies and restored to us our colonies and
our freedom of trade. We have gained on the Elbe and the Oder,
Pondicherry, our Indian establishments, the Cape of Good Hope, and
the Spanish colonies. Why should the Russians have the right of
opposing destiny and thwarting our just designs? They and we are
still the soldiers who fought at Austerlitz.
Rapp thus describes the entrance of the French into Warsaw, and adds a
few anecdotes connected with that event:
"At length we entered the Polish capital. The King of Naples had
preceded us, and had driven the Russians from the city. Napoleon
was received with enthusiasm. The Poles thought that the moment of
their regeneration had arrived, and that their wishes were
fulfilled. It would be difficult to describe the joy thus evinced,
and the respect with which they treated us. The French troops,
however, were not quite so well pleased; they manifested the
greatest repugnance to crossing the Vistula. The idea of want and
bad weather had inspired them with the greatest aversion to Poland,
and they were inexhaustible, in their jokes on the country."
When Bonaparte dictated his proclamations--and how many have I not
written from his dictation!--he was for the moment inspired, and
he evinced all the excitement which distinguishes the Italian
improvisatori. To follow him it was necessary to write with
inconceivable rapidity. When I have read over to him what he has
dictated I have often known him to smile triumphantly at the effect
which he expected any particular phrase would produce. In general his
proclamations turned on three distinct points--(1) Praising his soldiers
for what they had done; (2) pointing out to them what they had yet to
do; and (3) abusing his enemies. The proclamation to which I have
just now alluded was circulated profusely through Germany, and it is
impossible to conceive the effect it produced. on the whole army. The
corps stationed in the rear burned too pass, by forced marches, the
space which still separated them from headquarters; and those who were
nearer the Emperor forgot their fatigues and privations and were only
anxious to encounter the enemy. They frequently could not understand
what Napoleon said in these proclamations; but no matter for that, they
would have followed him cheerfully barefooted and without provisions.
Such was the enthusiasm, or rather the fanaticism, which Napoleon could
inspire among his troops when he thought proper to rouse them, as he
termed it.
When, on a former occasion, I spoke of the Duke of, Mecklenburg-Schwerin
and his family, I forgot a circumstance respecting my intercourse with
him which now occurs to my memory. When, on his expulsion from
his States, after the battle of Jena, he took refuge in Altona, he
requested, through the medium of his Minister at Hamburg, Count von
Plessen, that I would give him permission occasionally to visit that
city. This permission I granted without hesitation; but the Duke
observed no precaution in his visits, and I made some friendly
observations to him on the subject. I knew the object of his visits.
It was a secret connection in Hamburg; but in consequence of my
observations he removed the lady to Altona, and assured me that he
adopted that determination to avoid committing me. He afterwards came
very seldom to Hamburg; but as we were on the best understanding with
Denmark I frequently saw his daughter, and son-in-law, who used to visit
me at a house I had in Holstein, near Altona.
There I likewise saw, almost every day, the Duke of Weimar, an excellent
old man. I had the advantage of being on such terms of intimacy with him
that my house was in some measure his. He also had lost his States. I
was so happy as to contribute to their restitution, for my situation
enabled me to exercise some influence on the political indulgences or
severities of the Government. I entertained a sincere regard for the
Duke of Weimar, and I greatly regretted his departure. No sooner had
he arrived in Berlin than he wrote me a letter of, thanks, to which he
added the present of a diamond, in token of his grateful remembrance of
me. The Duke of Mecklenburg was not so fortunate as the Duke of Weimar,
in spite of his alliance with the reigning family of Denmark. He was
obliged to remain at Altona until the July following, for his States
were restored only by the Treaty of Tilsit. As soon as it was known that
the Emperor had returns to Paris the Duke's son, the Hereditary Prince,
visited me in Hamburg, and asked me whether I thought he could present
himself to the Emperor, for the purpose of expressing his own and his
father's gratitude. He was a very well-educated young man. He set
out, accompanied by M. Oertzen and Baron von Brandstaten. Some time
afterwards I saw his name in the Moniteur, in one of the lists of
presentations to Napoleon, the collection of which, during the Empire,