Worlds Best Histories France Vol 7 by M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

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Murat dreamed of seating himself on the throne of a restored Poland, and
he was angry at the mistrust of the great nobles. Napoleon read in his
correspondence a thought that the brilliant chief of the vanguard dared
not express; he had said to Davout, at the beginning of the campaign,
"When I shall see 40,000 Poles in the field I will declare their
independence, not before." In their turn the Poles, long crushed down by
harsh servitude, asked for guarantees from the conqueror, who had only
delivered them in order to subjugate them afresh. "Those who show so much
circumspection, and ask so many guarantees, are selfish persons, who are
not warmed by the love of country," wrote the emperor to Murat, already
Grand Duke of Berg for several months past. "I am experienced in the study
of men. My greatness is not founded on the aid of a few thousand Poles. It
is for them to profit, with enthusiasm, by present circumstances; it is
not for me to take the first step. Let them display a firm resolution to
render themselves independent--let them engage to uphold the king who will
be given to them, and then I shall see what I shall next have to do. Let
it be well understood that I do not come to beg a throne for any of my
relations; I have no lack of thrones to give to my family."

In that conversation with the world which he kept up by bulletins from the
grand army, Napoleon spoke of the Poles in other language; but he no
longer laid bare the secret of his thoughts. "The army has entered into
Warsaw," wrote he from Posen on December 1st. "It is difficult to paint
the enthusiasm of the Poles. Our entry into this great city was a triumph,
and the feelings that the Poles of all classes display since our arrival
cannot be expressed. The love of country and the national sentiment is not
only preserved in its entirety in the hearts of the people, but it has
even gained new vigor from misfortune. Their first passion, their chief
desire, is to become once more a nation. The richest leave their castles
in order to come and demand, with loud cries, the re-establishment of the
nation, and to offer their children, their fortunes, their influence. This
spectacle is truly touching. Already they have everywhere resumed their
ancient costume and their ancient customs.

"Shall the throne of Poland be re-established, and shall this great nation
reassert its existence and its independence? From the depths of the tomb
shall it be born again to life? God alone, who holds in His hands the
results of all events, is the arbiter of this grand political problem."

Under the hand of God, which in the depths of his soul he often
recognized, the Emperor Napoleon believed himself to be the arbiter of the
grand problem of the independence of Poland. He remained personally
indifferent to it, resolved on pursuing his own interest, either in aid
of, or in contempt of, the interests and aspirations of the Poles.

In spite of the generous cordiality of the population, who lavished their
resources upon those from whom they hoped for deliverance, Napoleon and
his troops perceived that they had entered a desert. "Our soldiers find
that the solitudes of Poland contrast with the smiling fields of their own
country; but they add immediately, 'They are a fine people, these Poles!'"
Before establishing himself for the winter in this savage country, under a
frozen sky, and on a cold and damp soil, it was necessary to push back the
enemy. Napoleon only went to Warsaw, and advanced towards the Russians
entrenched behind the Narew and the Ukra. Already his lieutenants, Davout,
Augereau, Ney, had taken up positions for attack. Furious battles at
Czarnovo, at Pultusk, at Golymin, at Soldau, obliged the Russians to fall
back upon the Pregel, without disaster to their _corps d'armee_, although
they had been constantly beaten. The rigor of the season had prevented
those grand concentrations of forces and those brilliant strokes in which
Napoleon ordinarily delighted; the troops advanced with difficulty through
impenetrable forests, soaked by the rain: the men fell in great numbers
without a battle. In the month of January, 1807, the emperor at last took
up his winter-quarters, carefully fortifying his positions, and laying
siege to the towns which still resisted him in Silesia. Breslau, Glogau,
Brieg successively succumbed. The old Marshal Lefebvre was charged with
the siege of Dantzig.

Meanwhile the Russians, henceforth concentrated under the orders of
General Benningsen, and less affected than the French by the inclemencies
to which they were accustomed, had not suspended their military
operations. Soon Marshal Ney, in one of those armed reconnoitering
expeditions which he often risked without orders, was able to assure
himself that the enemy was approaching us by a prolonged movement, which
was to bring him to the shore of the Baltic. Already a few battles had
taken place. The weather became cold; ice succeeded to the mud. Napoleon
quitted Warsaw on January 30th, resolved to march against the enemy.
"Since when have the conquered had the right of choosing the finest
country for their winter-quarters?" said the proclamation to the army.
Twice a great battle appeared imminent; twice a movement of the Russians
in retreat enabled them to escape from the overwhelming forces which
Napoleon had been able to collect; a few skirmishes, however, signalized
the first days of February. On the seventh day's march General Benningsen
entered Eylau.

The French entered in pursuit, and dislodged them. The Russians made their
bivouac outside the city whilst the battle was preparing for the morrow.
The weather was cold; one half of the country upon which the armies were
camped was only a sheet of ice covering some small lakes. The snow lay
thick upon the ground, and continued to fall in great flakes. The two
armies were composed of nearly equal forces; several French corps,
detached or delayed, were about to fail in the great effort which this
rough winter campaign required. The troops were fatigued and hungry. "I
have wherewith to nourish the army for a year," wrote Napoleon to Fouche,
annoyed at the reports current in France as to the sufferings of the
soldiers, "it is absurd to think one can want corn and wine, bread and
meat, in Poland." The provisions remained, nevertheless, insufficient. "I
can assure you," said the Duc de Fezensac in his military souvenirs, "that
with all these orders so freely given in January, our _corps d'armee_ was
dying of hunger in March."

Long before the dawn of a slowly breaking and cloudy day Napoleon was
already in the streets, establishing his guard in the cemetery of Eylau,
and ordering his line of battle. The formidable artillery of the Russians
covered their two lines; presently the shells fired the town of Eylau and
the village of Rothenen, which protected a division of Marshal Soult's.
The two armies remained immovable in a rain of cannon-balls. The Russians
were the first to move forward, in order to attack the mill of Eylau;
"they were impatient at suffering so much," says the 58th bulletin of the
grand army. Nearly at the same moment the corps of Marshal Davout arrived;
the emperor had him supported by Marshal Augereau. The snow fell in thick
masses, obscuring the view of the soldiers; the troops of Augereau turned
swiftly to the left, decimated by the Russian artillery. The marshal
himself, already ill before the battle, was struck by a ball. The officers
were nearly all wounded. The emperor called Murat: "Wilt thou let us be
annihilated by these people?" The cavalry shot immediately in advance;
only the imperial guard remained massed round Napoleon.

In a moment Murat had routed the Russian centre, but already the
battalions were reforming. Marshal Soult defended with difficulty the
positions of Eylau; Davout maintained a furious struggle against the left
wing of the Russians: the Prussians, preceding by one hour Marshal Ney,
who had been pursuing them for several days, made their appearance on the
battle-field. The dead and dying formed round the emperor a ghastly
rampart; gloomy and calm he contemplated the attack of the Prussians and
Russians united, in great numbers, and pressing upon Marshal Davout. The
latter glanced along the ranks of his troops: "The cowards will go to die
in Siberia," said he, "the brave will die here like men of honor." The
effort of the enemy died out against the heroic resistance of the French
divisions, who maintained their positions.

The night was falling; the carnage was horrible. In spite of the serious
advantage of the French troops, General Benningsen was preparing to
attempt a new assault, when he learnt the approach of Marshal Ney, who was
debouching towards Althof. The bad weather and the distance retarded the
effect of the combinations of the emperor. He had caused much blood to be
spilt; victory, however, remained with him; the Russians and Prussians
were decidedly beating a retreat. The French remained masters of this most
sanguinary battlefield, destitute of provisions, without shelter, in the
wet and cold. Marshal Ney, who had taken no part in the action, to which,
however, he assured success, surveyed the plain, covered with corpses and
inundated with blood. "He turned away from the hideous spectacle," says M.
de Fezensac, "crying, 'What a massacre, and without result!'" The Russians
had retired behind the Pregel to cover Koenigsberg. Napoleon re-entered his
cantonments. He established his headquarters at the little town of
Osterode, directing from this advanced post the works of defence on the
Vistula and Passarge, at the same time as the preparations for the siege
of Dantzig. On arriving there he wrote to King Joseph: "Staff-officers,
colonels, officers, have not undressed for two months, and a few of them
not for four; I have myself been fifteen days without taking off my boots.
We are in the midst of snow and mud, without wine, without brandy, without
bread, eating potatoes and meat, making long marches and countermarches,
without anything to sweeten existence, and fighting at bayonet-point and
under showers of grape-shot, the wounded very often obliged to be removed
on a sledge for fifty leagues in the open air. After having destroyed the
Prussian monarchy, we are making war against the remnants of Prussia,
against the Russians, the Calmucs, the Cossacks, and the peoples of the
north who formerly invaded the Roman Empire; we are making war in all its
energy and all its horror." Such vigorous language was not permitted to
all. "The gloomy pictures that have been drawn of our situation," wrote
Napoleon to Fouche on April 13th, "have for authors a few gossips of
Paris, who are simply blockheads. Never has the position of France been
grander or finer. As to Eylau, I have said and resaid that the bulletin
exaggerated the loss; and, for a great battle, what are 2000 men slain?
There were none of the battles of Louis XIV. or Louis XV. which did not
cost more. When I lead back my army to France and across the Rhine, it
will be seen that there are not many wanting at the roll-call."

It was against Russia and against the vigor of its resistance that
Napoleon now concentrated all his efforts. Tardy hostilities had at length
commenced between the Porte and Russia. For a moment the Sultan had
appeared to hesitate before the demands of the English, united to those of
the Russians: Admiral Duckworth forced the Dardanelles at the head of a
squadron, and destroyed the Turkish division anchored at Cape Nagara. In
spite of the terror which reigned in Constantinople, the energetic
influence of General Sebastiani carried the day. The overtures of the
English Legation were repulsed; the capital was armed all of a sudden,
under the direction of French officers. When Admiral Duckworth appeared
before the place, he found it in good condition of defence; thus the
English squadron could not leave the Straits of the Dardanelles without
sustaining serious damage. For the British navy the evil was small; the
moral effect could not but have some influence.

The Emperor Napoleon sought to profit by this circumstance to enter afresh
into negotiations with Austria. On the day after the battle of Eylau he
sent General Bertrand to the King of Prussia, offering to surrender him
his States as far as the Elbe. The messenger was charged with the
significant insinuation: "You will give just a hint that as to Poland,
since the emperor has become acquainted with it, he attaches to it no
value." The sacrifice of a fourth of the Prussian monarchy seemed too
bitter for King Frederick William; he replied to the envoy with evasive
answers. Napoleon became disdainful as regards the Prussians. It was with
Austria that he determined henceforth to treat concerning the affairs of
Prussia. "See now my plan, and what you must say to M. de Vincent," wrote
he on March 9, 1807, to Talleyrand: "To restore to the King of Prussia his
throne and his estates, and to maintain the integrity of the Porte. As to
Poland, that will be found included in the first part of the sentence. If
these bases of peace suit Austria, we shall be able to understand each
other. As for the remark of M. de Vincent, that Prussia is too thoroughly
humiliated to hope for recovery, that is reasonable. The end of all this
will be an arrangement between France and Austria, or between France and
Russia; for there will be no repose for the people, who need it so much,
except by this union."

Austria responded to these propositions of alliance by offer of mediation;
at the same time, and without ostentation, as a precautionary measure, she
was getting ready for war, and was secretly preparing her armaments. The
small places in the north of Prussia had fallen, one after another;
Dantzig alone was still waiting for the army which was to besiege it. The
Prussians had profited by this delay to put the place into a good state of
defence. On all sides Napoleon collected fresh forces, as if resolved upon
terrifying his secret enemies and crushing his declared ones. The
conscription for 1808 was enforced in France by an anticipation of nearly
two years; the Italian regiments and the auxiliary German corps were
concentrated on the Vistula; the emperor even went so far as to demand
from Spain the contingent which the Prince de la Paix had offered him on
the day after the battle of Jena. Formerly the Spanish minister had nursed
other ideas, and had counted on serving the Prussians; he, however,
hastened to despatch 10,000 men to the all-powerful conqueror. An army of
reserve had just been created on the Elbe; by the middle of March the town
of Dantzig was completely invested.

I do not care to recount the incidents of a siege which lasted more than
two months, and which was conducted in a masterly manner by Chasseloup and
Lariboisiere. Marshal Lefebvre grew weary of the long and able
preparations of his colleagues, and wished to begin the actual assault.
Authorization for this step was asked of the emperor. "You only know how
to grumble, to abuse your allies, and change your opinion at the will of
the first comer," wrote Napoleon to the old warrior. "You treat the allies
without any consideration; they are not accustomed to be under fire, but
that will come. Do you think that we were as brave in '92 as we are to-
day, after fifteen years of warfare? The chests of your grenadiers that
you wish to push everywhere will not overturn walls; you must let your
engineers work, and whilst waiting learn to have patience. The loss of a
few days, which I should not just now know how to employ, does not require
you to get several thousand men killed whose lives it is possible to
economize. You will have the glory of taking Dantzig; when that is
accomplished, you will be satisfied with me."

Meanwhile, the Russians and Prussians had resolved upon an attempt to
raise the siege of Dantzig: a considerable body came to attack the French
camp before the fort of Weichelsmunde. They were repulsed, after a furious
combat, by the aid of the reinforcements which had arrived to succor
Marshal Lefebvre; and the attempts of the English corvettes to re-victual
the town were equally unsuccessful. A previous attack of the Swedes upon
Stralsund had brought about no definite result, and their general, Essen,
had been constrained to conclude an armistice. Dantzig capitulated at
last, on the 26th of May, without having undergone the assault which the
French soldiers loudly demanded. As early as the 22nd, Napoleon had
written to Marshal Lefebvre: "I authorize Marshal Kalbreuth to go out
under the ordinary regulations, wishing to give this general an especial
proof of esteem; however, the capitulation of Mayence cannot be taken as a
basis, as the siege was less advanced than that of Dantzig now is. I
allowed, at the time, an honorable capitulation for General Wurmser, shut
up in Mantua; I wish to accord one more advantageous to General Kalbreuth,
taking a middle position between that of Mayence and that of Mantua."

All the French _corps d'armee_ occupied entrenched camps, prudently
defended against the attacks of enemies; they were suffering from the
rigors of the winter, and the large stores of wine found in Dantzig were
an important resource for the soldiers. The attempts at mediation by
Austria had failed; the campaign of 1809 was being prepared; everywhere
the grass was springing up in the fields, affording necessary sustenance
for the horses; the wild swans were reappearing in flocks upon the shores
of the Passarge. The Emperor Napoleon had fixed upon the 10th of June for
the resumption of hostilities.

The Russians forestalled it: Alexander had sent his guard to General
Benningsen. "Brothers, uphold honor!" said the young emperor to his
soldiers as they began the march. "We will do everything that is
possible," cried the troops: "adieu, master!" Already Benningsen was
advancing against the corps of Ney, who occupied the advanced posts, but
the clever and prudent arrangements of Napoleon had prepared the retreat
of his lieutenants; without disorder and without weakness, always
victoriously fighting, Marshal Ney fell back upon Deppen; two other
attacks upon the bridges of Lanutten and Spanden were likewise repulsed.
The concentration of the French _corps d'armee_ began to be effected near
Saafeldt, when General Benningsen changed all of a sudden his plan of
campaign: passing from the offensive to the defensive, he decided to
repass the Alle, in order to protect the entrenched camp of Heilsberg, and
by the same movement the town of Koenigsberg, the last refuge of the
resources of Prussia. The retreat of the Russians commenced on the evening
of the 7th of June.

Napoleon followed them with almost the whole of his army; the detachments
of the vanguard and rearguard had more than once been engaged in partial
combats when, on the evening of the 10th of June, the French army
debouched before the entrenched camp of Heilsberg strongly supported by
the banks of the Alle. Napoleon followed the left bank, seeking to
forestall the enemy at the confluence of the Alle and the Pregel, in the
hope of seizing Koenigsberg before the place could be succored. Murat and
Davout were already threatening the city.

It was the supreme feature in the genius of Napoleon, that an indomitable
perseverance in wisely calculated projects did not exclude the
thunderbolts of a marvellous promptitude in resolution and combinations.
Uncertainty and want of foresight reigned, on the contrary, in the
military councils of the Russians. General Benningsen, formerly in the
attitude of attack, now compelled to engage in a defensive march, and
projecting the defence of Koenigsberg, thought it all of a sudden necessary
to protect himself against an attack in flank. He crossed the Alle under
the eyes of the French, and meeting them on the left bank of the river, he
advanced towards the corps of Marshal Lannes, whom the emperor had sent
against Domnau; a strong Russian detachment drove from Friedland the
regiment of French hussars, who had established themselves there. The
whole Russian army attacked Marshal Lannes, who had just collected a few
reinforcements. It was to judge badly of the able prudence of the Emperor
Napoleon, to hope to encounter a single corps of his grand army: Lannes
held out till mid-day upon the field of battle with heroic skill; he sent
meanwhile express after express to the emperor, who arrived at a gallop,
his face radiant with the anticipation of the joys of victory. "It is the
14th of June," said he, "the anniversary of Marengo; it is a lucky day for
us."

Napoleon and his staff had preceded the march of the troops; Lannes and
his soldiers recovered their forces in the presence of the invincible
chief who had so many times led them to victory. "Give me only a
reinforcement, sire," cried Oudinot, whose coat was pierced with bullets,
"and although my grenadiers can do no more, we will cast all the Russians
into the water."

This was the aim of the emperor as well as of his soldiers; and the
positions which General Benningsen had taken, concentred in a bend of the
river, rendered the enterprise practicable. The day was advanced, and a
few of the generals had been wishing to put off the battle till the
morrow. "No!" said Napoleon; "one does not surprise the enemy twice in
such a blunder." Then sweeping with his telescope the masses of the enemy
grouped before him, he quickly seized the arm of Marshal Ney. "You see the
Russians and Friedland," said he; "the bridges are there--there only.
March right on before you; enter into Friedland; take the bridges,
whatever it may cost, and do not disquiet yourself about what shall take
place on your right, or your left, or in your rear. That concerns us--the
army and me."

When Marshal Ney had set out, marching to danger as to a festival, the
emperor turned towards Marshal Mortier and said, "That man is a lion."

Upon the field of battle, where he had just arrived in face of the enemy,
who appeared hesitating and troubled, Napoleon dictated his orders, which
he caused to be delivered to all his lieutenants. The troops continued to
arrive; all the corps formed again at the posts which had been assigned to
them. The emperor checked the impatience of his generals. "The action," he
told them, "will commence when the battery posted in the village of
Posthenen shall commence to fire." It was half-past five when the cannon
at last sounded.

Ney advanced towards Friedland under a terrible fire from the Russians;
extricated by the cavalry of Latour-Marbourg, and protected by the
artillery of General Victor, suddenly thrown in advance, the French
columns had reached a stream defended by the imperial Russian guard. The
resistance of these picked troops for a moment threw disorder into our
lines, who fell back; when General Dupont, arriving with his division,
broke the Russian guard. The French in pursuit of their enemies penetrated
into Friedland. The city was in flames; the fugitives fled towards the
bridges; a very small number had succeeded in reaching them when this only
means of safety was snatched from them; the bridges were cut and set on
fire when Marshal Ney took possession of the burning remains of Friedland.
At the same moment the corps of General Gortschakoff, pressed by Marshals
Lannes and Mortier, fighting valiantly in a position without egress,
sought in vain to reconquer the city, and afterwards redescended the
length of the river in the hope of finding fordable passages. Many
soldiers were drowned, others succeeded in regaining the right shore.
Almost the entire column of General Lambert succeeded in escaping. Night
at length followed the long twilight; it was ten o'clock in the evening
when the combat ceased. The victory was complete; the remains of the
Russian army retired upon the Pregel without Napoleon being able again to
encounter them. They soon afterwards gained the Niemen. Meanwhile Marshal
Soult had occupied Koenigsberg, evacuated by Generals Lestocq and Kaminsky.
The King of Prussia possessed nothing more than the little town of Memel.

The Emperor Alexander had rejoined his troops, vanquished and decimated in
spite of their courage; the King Frederick William placed himself close to
his ally, at Tilsit. Peace had become necessary for the Russians; for the
Prussians it had long been so. Napoleon resolved on negotiating for
himself. In response to the request for an armistice, he proposed an
interview, with the Emperor Alexander. It was in the middle of the Niemen,
upon a raft constructed for this purpose, that the two emperors met.

Alexander was young, amiable, winning, drawn along at times by chivalrous
or mystical sentiments and enthusiasms, at other times under the dominion
of Oriental tastes and passions. No one could be more capable of being
influenced by the charm of a superior genius and an extraordinary destiny,
and the personal ascendancy of a man who knew at once how to please and
how to vex.